To Aru Majutsu no Kyuketsuki
by WitchHatsFTW
Summary: Academy City; a place where science and technology take precedence above all else. The world farthest away from magic. When an average Level 3 Esper stumbles across an injured vampire one evening, he's quickly flung into a world of magic, darkness, and conspiracy. However, the more he fights, the more he realizes that he might not be so "average" after all.
1. Chapter 1

_**Disclaimer: All characters, settings, and concepts taken from To Aru Majutsu no Index are property of Kazuma Kamachi, and I claim no ownership.**_

* * *

Moonlight filtered into the dark room as I gazed upon the sleeping figure before me. I sighed and leaned back in the desk chair I was sitting in.

Let me back up a little. My name is Arakuyo Kenji. I'm a Level 3 esper currently attending one of the many high schools here in Academy City. I live in a small but affordable student dorm near my school, and follow a relatively average routine with few detours from the mundane repetitiveness of school life.

Of course, that kind of lifestyle- the illusion of normality- is prone to shattering easily.

It all began after I had finished my evening homework. It was quite unfortunate that I always got so much of it. Level 3's like me were held to certain mental expectations, and I had enrolled in a certain number of honors classes as well.

Don't get me wrong, I'm the kind of person who values education. Still homework can be quite a pain sometimes, and this night I hadn't finished my homework until after dinner.

I looked over at the clock. 22:36. I had some errands to run, and the 24-hour convenience store was right around the block. No sense of putting it off for tomorrow.

"Alright," I spoke aloud, though no one was even in the room, "Iku zo!"

I brushed my hands through my short red hair and headed out the door. As I anticipated, it took me little more than five minutes to reach the convenience store from my dorm, and I managed to pick up the items I needed and left the store quickly.

Everything was going fine. Of course, thats when I happened to glance down a particular alleyway. I don't know what happened, and I didn't see anyone else there, but lying on the ground in a bit of a bloody mess was a girl with long green hair.

Without thinking, I plunged into the alleyway, and by doing so, sealed my own fate.

I shook the girl lying on the ground, "A-are you okay?"

Silence.

I frowned, checking her wrist for a pulse. Blood still pounded heavily beneath her skin. She was still alive.

"Thank goodness," I sighed, "Maybe I should call the cops…"

As I reached into my pocket to pull out my cellphone, however, the girl reached up her hand and knocked the device to the ground. She looked up at me, her face contorted in pain and a trickle of blood flowing in the corner of her mouth. Yet she was still gazing up at me with urgent emerald eyes.

"I'm… not a member of this… city… I'd be… discovered…" she replied through strained breaths.

I sighed. An illegal resident in Academy City… and she was obviously seriously injured. Getting involved in this would be a bad idea no matter how you looked at it.

And yet…

"What can I do to help?" I asked.

"B-blood…"

Even though the girl had responded quite clearly, I wasn't entirely sure what she meant.

"W-what?"

"Let me… drink… your blood." She responded urgently, using her arms to push herself off the floor. The front of her shirt was soaked with blood pouring from a wound in her chest. It looked as though she had been impaled.

"Oi! What the hell's with that, are you supposed to be some kind of vampire?"

"Yes…" She answered bluntly, "Now, please, let me drink your blood."

Before I had a chance to object, the girl had already crawled up to where I was and bit down into my neck. I had dismissed the notion of her being an actual vampire at first, but there was no way the things plunged deep into my veins weren't fangs. It hurt at first, but soon the painful feeling vanished. As I sat there, I wondered how I got myself into this mess.

She pulled back and sighed. Whatever color that had vanished from her due to blood loss was back, and she felt her chest. It was still bloodied, but her wound had miraculously closed itself up.

She smiled as she stood up. "Thanks, I feel worlds better!"

"So… you're actually a vampire?" I asked, though, from what I had seen, denying the possibility was all but impossible.

"Yup! Though, perhaps I shouldn't flaunt that information around to just anyone. Though, you are the person who saved my life!" She stated cheerfully.

"Wait, you just drank my blood? Does that mean I'm going to turn into a vampire now too?" I asked, suddenly panicked.

"That's just a myth!" she grinned.

I sighed. No turning into a vampire for me.

"Most people die instantly when a vampire drinks their blood!" She added, just as cheerfully.

"W-WHAT!?" I yelled, eyes wide.

"Relax," she held out her arms defensively, "that was a joke!"

"You're cruel…" I replied, "By the way, what happened?"

"Hmm? Oh, you mean this?" she motioned to her bloody shirt, "I kinda got into a fight."

"So, you just… got into a fight? Like a normal street fight?" I asked.

"Something like that… except it was with two mages." She replied matter-of-factly.

"Huh?" I asked. I must've looked like an idiot, because I was staring at her with what felt like a stupid, blank grin.

"Oh, right, mentioning mages in a city of science… well, anyway, let me explain bluntly. Magic exists."

"Oi, that wasn't an explanation at all, you know…" I sighed. Yet, before our conversation continued, I noticed a girl run past the alleyway. She was too preoccupied to notice us, but it reminded me of the situation we were in. It would probably be bad if anyone did happen to glance down the alleyway and see a bloody girl and average high school student standing around like nothing had happened.

Also, some of the food items from the convenience store I bought would get warm and spoil.

"Look, I should get going," I replied, turning, "It was nice talking to you, but to be blunt, I don't want to get caught up in whatever crazy world you're in."

She nodded, as if she accepted what I had just said, then turned around to leave.

I sighed. I had managed to maintain my normal student life.

Or so I had thought.

"Tadaima," I called, entering the house. Once again, I was alone, but as long as I was alone, no one would hear me calling Tadaima to an empty house anyway.

I set to putting the food I bought into the refrigerator, and realized I still needed to put some of the other items in the medicine cabinet.

As I headed over to my bathroom, however, I stopped just before I opened the door. The light was filtering out from underneath the doorframe, and I wasn't about to do something stupid like walk into a bathroom that looked preoccupied, even if I was supposed to be the only one home.

I sighed as I put my hand back down, "I'm glad I didn't set off any flags by walking in on some uninvited naked girl taking a bath or something."

I instead opted to knock on the door. However, as I raised my hand to knock, the door flung open as said uninvited, naked girl stretched smiling with her eyes closed. It was the same green-haired "vampire" from earlier.

"Ah, nothing like a refreshing bath after a battle like that…" She spoke to herself, seemingly unaware of my presence. I averted my eyes instantly.

"OI, what the hell are you doing in my home!" I yelled, staring quite intently at the ceiling above me.

"Eh..." she looked at me, though she made no effort to cover herself, "When did you get back?"

"Don't answer my question with a question," I retorted, "This is _my _dorm, what are you doing here?"

"Isn't it obvious," she replied, "I was taking a bath. That's why I'm naked."

"How shameless," I muttered under my breath, to I suppose it was better than having her slap me for looking when I clearly wasn't. I'm not about to become the kind of protagonist who gets abused by girls around him for unfortunate misunderstandings, that's for sure.

"I know that," I stated, "I mean, why are you in my dorm to begin with?"

As if she had forgotten she was naked, she took the opportunity to kneel before me as though I were some emperor, as she replied in a mocking tone, "Why, it is only to serve the one who I owe my life to! From now on, I will call you 'Master'."

"To hell with that! There's no way I raised some stupid 'debt of gratitude' flag," I pointed out bluntly.

The green-haired girl smiled and rose to her feet, not even making an attempt to cover up anymore. I once again averted my eyes.

"You're correct," she replied, "I'm here to freeload, obviously."

"Out." I pointed to the door with a blank expression on my face.

"Aw, but I was so honest with you too!" she pouted.

"Out, and at least pretend to be embarrassed standing there naked!" I yelled.

"How can you just kick me out like this?" she frowned, raising her arms to her eyes, wiping away tears that weren't actually there, "I'm an attractive young woman… if I slept out on the streets, people would try to take advantage of me!"

"Don't pull that crap!" I replied, "You're supposedly a vampire and I just watched you completely heal a serious injury in five seconds!"

She sighed, "I see, so you were serious when you said you wanted nothing to do with the world I'm a part of."

"Don't get the wrong idea," I spoke after a few moments of silence, "You don't look like a bad person, and I don't think you're lying, but I've already got a lot to worry about, alright…"

She nodded, "Fine, fine, I'll be going, then…"

As she wrapped herself in the bath towel she had been holding onto- which would've done little to cover up her well-developed form- walked to the door dejectedly, I frowned. She was still trying to guilt-trip me into letting her stay here, and I knew it too.

And yet.

"One night," I replied.

She turned around, confused.

"You can stay for one night, but that's it!" I replied strictly, "And in the name of sanity, PUT SOME CLOTHES ON!"

And thus my fragile illusion of a normal student life was broken.

* * *

I woke up on the hard floor of my bedroom, my mind groggy and having temporarily forgotten the events that had transpired last night. The date was July 18th, two days before summer vacation started. I had exactly two days of classes before I could experience the freedom that came with it.

As I dragged myself off the floor, my eyes fell upon the sleeping, green-haired girl.

"_My name's Miyako Mizuki!"_ She had introduced herself after I had finally agreed to let her stay at my dorm for a day.

I looked down at her and shook my head. I had a good hour before I had to leave for school, but I didn't really want to wake her up.

"Geez, I can't believe I got wrapped up in all this," I sighed, heading into the bathroom to get ready.

As I made breakfast, I sighed and grabbed a piece of paper and a pen. Might as well leave a note for my guest, even though she had kind of invited herself here.

I finished my note and left it on the table in an obvious place. After that, I grabbed my bag and headed out the door.

"I'm heading off," I replied. This time, there was someone else in my dorm, though I doubted she was awake to hear me.

The walk to school wasn't far, but unless I was in a rush, I prefered to keep a lax pace. I was stopped by a few lights, and it gave me some time to think about what happened last night.

"Magic exists, huh?" I laughed to myself, "You're a vampire? What a ridiculous thing to say."

I rubbed my neck where I was bitten, but I didn't even feel the wound. There weren't raised bumps of clotted blood, nor were their holes.

I frowned, "Yet even if I say that, it's getting hard to deny."

By the time I reached school, the first bell had just rung, signifying that students had to start getting to class.

I walked into my classroom, 2-B, and sat at my desk. If I had one of those stereotypical desks by the window like protagonists in anime do, I'd probably spend the time we had in homeroom staring out the window.

Of course, I was unfortunate to get a seat one row over from the window, and next to me sat one of the oddest people in my class.

Kurogori Tetsuo.

He was supposed to be incredibly intelligent, and indeed he's never scored below a 100 on any of the tests we've taken, but he's also extremely lazy. He sleeps in class, never does any of his homework, and skips out on most of our athletic activities.

He was currently wearing a standard uniform, though it, like the rest of him, looked unkempt and just a touch messy. He had slightly dark circles under his icy-blue eyes despite his narcoleptic tendencies, and his hair was the same shade of pale blue and tied back in a long, unkempt mess.

To be honest, I don't like him.

I leaned back in my desk and sighed. I wasn't really close with any of the other people in my class. I used to have a pretty good friend, but he moved out of Academy City without warning. I tried talking to Tesuo and some of the other students around, but Tesuo's too lazy to hold a conversation for more than three minutes and most of the other students are of the uppity snob-type, despite most of them being Level 3s like myself.

I leaned forwards and prepared for the first class of the day, though I had a feeling I'd find it hard to concentrate with everything that had transpired, and the anticipation of summer break just ahead.

* * *

_Miyako Mizuki's Side_

I climbed out of bed and sighed contently. Nothing like sleeping in after a long battle.

Or a short battle, as it happened to have been.

"Stupid mages, always trying to capture me just to say 'Vampires exist!'. Honestly…" I complained to no one in particular.

I looked around the empty dorm. That's right, I was allowed to stay here for the night. I smiled and stood up, letting the covers fall off my still-naked form.

Maybe it was to irritate the red-haired boy who saved my life, but I still hadn't put on clothes.

"Well, he's not around, so it's fine if I stay like this, right?" I asked myself, though in truth I had no intention of considering it.

Let me clarify. I'm not some kind of nudist. I'm fine with wearing clothes. But when you're 147 years old, you tend to stop caring who sees your naked form. It's kind of the same principle behind older women not minding if kids see them naked, but that would be admitting I was an older woman.

147 is young for vampires, who can live for millennia. Plus, in human's eyes, my body would forever be that of a youthful but mature teenager.

So, In reality, no matter how old I get, I can always claim I'm 17.

I smiled at the thought and made my way into the main room of the dorm. There was a note on the table, presumably for me, and no sign of red-head boy. He was probably falling asleep in class or something.

Oh yeah, he had told me his name, hadn't he? Too bad I'm terrible with names.

What was it? Araki Kenshi? Abarai Renji?

I shook my head. It wasn't important. Why bother memorizing his name if he's only letting me stay here for a day?

I snatched up the note from the table, and indeed it was meant for me.

_For Miyako-san,_

_I'll probably at school by the time you wake up, so I'm leaving this note here for you. There's food in the fridge if you want it. I don't know what part of the legends surrounding vampires are true, but if everything you eat tastes like ash, then forget about the food._

_I told you a day. It would be easier on both of us if you found a place to stay before I return. I'm a student who has a busy schedule with honors-level courses as well as the Power Curriculum Program, so it would be a problem if you tried to freeload off of me more._

_(Also, sleeping on the floor was uncomfortable)_

_- Arakuyo Kenji_

_P.S. PUT SOME DAMN CLOTHES ON ALREADY!_

"Ha… How troubling… I have to find another place to stay?" I frowned, putting my finger on my lip, "Furthermore, how did he know I wouldn't be wearing clothes? Could that be related to his Esper abilities? Or maybe that was just a good assumption…"

I sat, deeply troubled. I expected this to be one of those cliches where the attractive, innocent girl with no place to stay is told "You can only stay here for one day!" but then winds up staying longer.

I read back over the letter in my gloom and noticed that it said something very particular, and my eyes immediately lit up.

"That's right!" I smiled, "The letter doesn't say anything about not being allowed to stay here, it just says 'It would be a problem if you tried to freeload off me more'! I just have to show him I won't freeload~!"

And thus, my quest for convincing Arakuyo-san to let me stay here longer was set into motion.

* * *

_Arakuyo Kenji's Side_

Once the final bell of the day rang, students poured out of their classrooms with freedom lifting their spirits like a warm updraft of air lifting up a soaring hawk.

Well, all students except for me and Tetsuo.

"You two…" our teacher, Kamishirasawa-sensei, "Where do I even begin with you two?"

Kamishirasawa-sensei walked back to where our desks were. She typically wears a blue blouse and a modest blue dress skirt, as well as dark blue square-framed glasses, and indeed today was no exception. She's a relatively young teacher, probably somewhere in her mid-30's, so she's a rather attractive woman. Now, I'm not the kind of student who goes around fantasizing about his teachers, but I've heard plenty of conversations from the male students in her classes talking about her "large rack" and "sweet ass". I don't know if she's ever heard any of these conversations, but if so, she does a good job of ignoring it entirely.

Furthermore, Kamashirisawa-sensei is not a normal teacher. She's also one of the scientist's working with the Power Curriculum Program. I suspect I was kept here because of that reason.

The reasons for Tetsuo being held back were a bit more obvious.

"You, Kurogori Tetsuo!" She turned to the blue-haired mess as he snored at his desk. Even when told to stay behind, he still miraculously managed to fall asleep.

She lightly thwacked him on the head with a rolled up packet of papers, waking him up.

"You are a complete and utter disappointment!" she scolded, "You're _the _smartest student in this school, and one of the smartest in the entire Academy City! The only reason why you don't have grades that reflect that are because you never turn in any homework assignments and you fall asleep in class!"

"Sorry, Sorry," he replied, though he seemed rather half-hearted about it.

"Furthermore, a person with such an high IQ should theoretically have no problem becoming a Level 5… but you're only a Level 3. Now, I'm not blaming your lack of motivation on this, but it seems like your powers have completely halted in their development… maybe if you worked harder, you could develop them further!" she chided.

Kamishirasawa-sensei then turned to me, and I braced for whatever was coming.

"Arakuro-san," she immediately changed her tone to a gentler one, "You're progress within the Power Curriculum Program has been astounding."

"Hm?" I asked, "But, I'm only a Level 3… and my powers haven't developed that far in the past year…"

Kamishirasawa-sensei shook her head, "Actually, that's incorrect. With the level and precision of your powers as they are now, you should also theoretically be able to become a Level 5…"

"What!?" I asked, eyes wide, "What is that supposed to mean."

"Your ability, Density Shift, is an incredibly potent and potentially dangerous ability…" she began, "However, what's holding you back from being a Level Five is not your power, but your mind."

I must've been staring at her like a confused idiot, because she sighed and continued.

"Simply put, you're mind isn't well-adjusted to performing the complex calculations fast enough for you to use your ability to the fullest extent, even though your ability itself is technically fully developed," she concluded.

Tetsuo laughed, "Basically, you're too much of an idiot to use your powers fully."

Kamishirasawa-sensei gave him another thwack with her paper and glared at him for a brief moment before turning her attention back to me.

"I'm not saying you're an idiot, you're IQ is 145. That's past the threshold of being considered a genius…" Kamishirasawa-sensei explained, "However, for an Esper's ability to develop beyond their own mental capabilities is, in truth, unusual."

She stepped back and looked at both of us, "So, you two are going to have to take supplementary courses… Arakuyo-san, to further develop your powers, and Kurogori-san, to bring your pathetic grades up to where they should be!"

I walked down the street, grumbling to myself. I normally didn't like to complain, but…

"Supplementary courses!?" I yelled out finally, "I got straight A's! This is all because of my stupid Esper power! So what if I'm a bit slow and "inefficient" at making calculations! I'm not a computer damnit!"

I growled and walked into the convenience store near my home. I had bought stuff yesterday, but I felt like drinking something carbonated and filled with sugar. I grabbed multiple cans of my favorite brand of citrus-flavored soda and walked up to the cash register.

That's when I noticed who the cashier was.

"EH! MI-MI-MIYAKO-!?" I exclaimed, shocked.

Indeed, the green-haired "vampire" from yesterday was standing at the cash register, ready to ring me up with a smile on her face, clad in the pale-orange uniforms of the convenience store workers.

"Eh! Arakayu-san?" she asked.

"It's Arakuyo…" I corrected.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever…" she dismissed, "I got a job!"

"I… can see that," I replied, giving her another quick look from top to bottom. I wanted to rub my eyes in case I was seeing things, but the undeniable truth was standing right in front of me.

"So~ So~ So~!" she smiled as she rung me up, "I was thinking… since I've gotten a job and everything…"

She paused as I handed her the required money and she handed me the bag and a receipt.

"It's alright if I stay at your place from now on?" she spoke a little loudly for my tastes. There were other people around, and I didn't want them to get the wrong idea.

"Wh-what!?" I asked in a hushed whisper, "That's why you got the job?"

"I wouldn't be freeloading if I'm working, would I?" she asked, not catching on that I wanted to keep this a private conversation.

"You can't stay at my house!" I replied sternly yet quietly.

She sniffed, "But, but… I have nowhere else to go!"

Some of the other customers were clearly listening in on our conversation at this point, and it was making me feel uncomfortable.

"Look, I'm sorry, I can't-" I started.

"Even after everything that happened last night!" she sniffled again, "Even after the things we did together! You would just kick me out cruelly after one night!?"

"Hey, keep it down, people will get the wrong idea-" I started, but it was already too late, people were starting to pity her.

"Hey, she's on the verge of tears," I heard one customer mutter, "that guy seems like a jerk…"

"It's just like a man to use a girl for one night, then throw her out!" I heard a woman scoff from somewhere.

I grumbled. I was cornered with all of this. If I continued to say no, the other customers would view me as cruel and uncaring. There was really only one option left.

"F-fine! You can stay," I replied.

Miyako-san flung herself over the counter and glomped me, knocking us both to the floor, "Thank you, Arakuyo-san! I love you!"

At this, one of the customers smiled, and I was pretty sure I heard a "d'aw" from somewhere in the back.

"Y-you're playing along…" I pointed out, "You set this up, didn't you?"

Miyako-san merely smiled and winked at me.

I grumbled as I pulled myself to my feet. But even as I left the convenience store with a frown on my face, I sighed.

"Maybe it won't be so bad…" I muttered to myself.

* * *

**AN: Here's the first chapter. I hope you enjoyed it, da ze! This is one of the first times I've written anything serious in first person, so I hope you enjoyed it!**

**For those of you who found this normally, ignore this next bit.**

**For those of you following me in anticipation for the sequel to ****_Rekindling Old Flames, Lighting New Fires, _****rest assured, I'm going to work on that, but I want a bit of a break from Kill la Kill stuff for now.**


	2. Chapter 2

"Tadaima!" I called as I entered the house. I came here straight from the convenience store, so naturally there was no one in the house.

"Welcome back~!"

Or, there shouldn't have been.

"Miyako-san!" I exclaimed, "What about your job?"

The green-haired girl smiled as she folded up her new work uniform.

"Actually, my shift was already over when I rang you up, but since you were already in the store, I thought I'd stick around to surprise you!" she smiled.

"You _did _do that on purpose!" I exclaimed, frowning.

She smiled, "Hey, having me around isn't so bad, is it?"

I frowned, "Maybe it would be better if you PUT SOME DAMN CLOTHES ON!"

She looked down, grinning, "At least I'm wearing panties this time!"

"You are not walking around my dorm naked! Put some clothes on!" I replied sternly.

She pouted, "But my shirt and bra were both ruined yesterday, and I don't have another pair of clothes!"

"I guess you'll have to go shopping, then," I replied dryly as I flipped on the tv.

"But… I don't have any money…" she pointed out, "It's true that I got a job, but you don't get paid right away, you know!"

I glanced up at her with an unamused look on my face. I could already see where this was going.

* * *

_Miyako Mizuki's Side_

I smiled as I walked down the streets in front of Arakuyo-san. He seemed irritated, but I got the impression he was normally a nice person. I thought to clarify something, so I spun on my heel and began walking backwards.

Before now, I hadn't really thought to observe Arakuyo-san's appearance thoroughly. I came into contact with plenty of people, so I only bothered paying so much attention to them. Arakuyo-san was going to be one of the exceptions.

He had blood-red hair- such an unnatural color, though I didn't bother bringing that up- and stern amber eyes. His face was somewhere in-between being gentle and angular, but he still managed to maintain a mature look. He was currently wearing a school uniform, which consisted of a light grey collared button-up shirt and black dress pants with brown shoes. Yesterday, he had been wearing something more casual, but she couldn't remember exactly what it had been.

"Say, you're the kind of person who's usually nice to people you know, but gets irritated by strangers easily, aren't you?" I asked.

"Yeah, I guess I'm kinda like that," Arakuyo-san admitted.

I smiled, but said nothing further.

"What's with that look?" Arakuyo-san asked me.

"That means I just have to become someone close to you, and you'll stop glaring at me like that~!" I grinned.

"I don't dislike you," Arakuyo-san replied, "but you've just forced yourself into my life using underhanded tactics… I'm still a bit irritated, you know."

"Sorry, sorry!" I apologized, but it sounded too cheery to be sincere, "I didn't know where else to go, though."

"What do you mean?" he asked, confused.

"Remember how I said I got into a fight with mages?" I asked him, turning back around.

"Yeah," he replied.

"Well, see, vampires are still a mystery to the world of magic…" I explained, "Some mages are so determined to prove the existence of vampires that they go out of their way trying to hunt them down and capture them. Not to mention that alchemists want us for our immortality, and that, since vampires are an infinite source of magical energy, some mages want to use us to gain the upper hand in a potential war against science."

I imagined Arakuyo-san had a blank, confused look on his face from the dump of information I just gave him.

"Look, I'm not entirely sold on this whole 'magic exists' thing." he replied, "I believe you're a vampire because of yesterday, but even still, I'm not ready to accept the existence of such things."

I nodded, "Yeah, I figured it was something like that. If I could use magic, I would, just to prove it to you. The problem is, I can't use magic."

"Hmm?" He asked, "But I thought you said vampires were an infinite source of magical energy?"

"They are, and I'm no exception," she replied, "but just because I have magical energy doesn't mean I can harness it. In fact, that's why I'm being hunted. See, most vampires have dangerous magic. This is why their existence still hasn't been proven. Vampires blend amongst humans, and if anyone finds out their true identities, they kill them or wipe their memories. Since I don't have any of this dangerous magic, I'm considered an easy target."

Arakuyo-san didn't say anything, so I continued.

"I managed to escape to this city, the farthest away from magic… but that doesn't necessarily mean I'm safe. I did manage to pick up an ID card, however, so I don't have to worry about being arrested or kicked out."

"So, that's how you managed to get a job," Arakuyo-san replied.

I was about to ask if, after all that, that was all he had to say to me, but we had reached the clothing store.

I smiled grabbing the red-haired boy's hand as I pulled him into the store, "Ikou! Arakuyo-san!"

* * *

_Arakuyo Kenji's Side_

"What do you think of this one?"

"That's fine."

"What about this one?"

"Whatever."

"How about this one?"

"Sure, sure," I replied dully.

"Oh, come on!" Miyako-san pouted, "You're not even looking!"

"That's because you're shopping for _bras!_" I pointed out harshly, "Can't you at least _pretend _to have shame?"

"Hmmm…. Nope!" Miyako-san smiled, "Ohh, this one looks sexy, what do you think?"

"Get what you want," I replied.

"Hmm, these look good… but I wonder how comfortable they'll be…" Miyako sighed.

"There's a changing room over there," I pointed over to the corner of the room and she nodded, grabbing my arm to drag me along.

"Alright! Ikou-"

"Hang on!" I stopped her, "Why are you dragging me!?"

"I want your opinion. If you won't tell me what you think of these bras when I'm not wearing them, then I'll just have to show you what they look like when I _am _wearing them~!" she smiled.

"Oh no you don't!" I frowned. There's only so much a guy like me can take, after all.

She pouts, "At least wait outside the changing room?"

"Sure," I reply, "Just don't come out without putting your shirt on!"

"You're no fun!" she pouted more, "Alright, no peeking~!"

"DON'T SAY THAT AFTER-" I buried my face in my palms. She had already went into the changing room, "nevermind…"

"Ne, Arakuyo-san?" she asked me after a good few minutes of silence.

"Oi, what is it?" I asked.

"Are you really not interested in my body?" she asked.

I choked after processing what she had asked, "W-what kind of question is that all of a sudden!?"

"Well, I was starting to wonder if you didn't find me attractive…" she paused for a split second, then gasped, "C-could it be, that Arakuyo-san goes for the flat-chested type? Or, or maybe… do you actually prefer younger girls!?"

"N-no way!" I replied defensively, "Look, it's not that I don't find you attractive, but the truth is, I don't know you well. To me, you're like a stranger. There are attractive strangers all over town, but it's not like I want to see _them _naked. So no, I'm not interested in your body."

"So, in other words, if we got to know each other better, you'd want to do this-and-that with me?" she asked. I couldn't see her face, but I had a feeling there was a trollish grin plastered across it right about now.

"DON'T JUMP TO CONCLUSIONS!" I yelled.

"Alright, Arakuyo-san," she smiled, "I'll respect your wishes. No walking around your dorm naked."

I frowned. I couldn't tell if this conversation was supposed to be serious or a joke, so I decided to change the subject.

"So, can vampires actually eat food?" I asked.

"Oh, yeah, you mentioned that in the letter earlier that you weren't sure," Miyako-san replied, "Yeah, Vampires can eat food. In fact, provided we eat a normal amount of food daily, we can go for months without drinking blood. Why? Were you thinking about cooking us dinner?"

"Well, a busy high school student like me isn't the kind of guy to cook meals for himself often..." I answered.

I could hear the pout in her voice as she gave a small, "Aw…"

"...but… I guess I'm also not the kind of guy to let a random vampire girl stay at his house either… so I might make an exception. Another time, though. It's already getting late," I added.

"Yes!" she exclaimed. I could _hear _the fistpump she was doing behind the curtain.

I found myself smiling. As much as it was different for me, I was starting to think this might not be such a bad thing.

* * *

_Miyako Mizuki's Side_

Shopping had ended about an hour ago and I was currently clad in one of my new outfits. It was nothing special, just a low cut spaghetti-strap tank top that showed off my curves well and a pair of green shorts. I had tied my long, green hair up in a ponytail, and I had a pair of comfortable white sandals perfect for summer.

Arakuyo-san promised to take us to a decent family diner nearby. Despite the fact it got darker later, our shopping spree had lasted long enough that it was already dark by the time we arrived and we were both plenty hungry.

As Arakuyo-san reached to open the doors, however, a strange sight befell us indeed.

First, a black-haired high school student wearing a white button-up shirt with an orange shirt underneath, as well as dark dress pants ran frantically out of the diner, followed by at least 8 delinquent-looking guys, who were all angrily pursuing him.

Following them, without the urgency or purpose that the other's had, was a face I didn't recognize whatsoever. Of course, Arakuyo-san seemed to at least know who she was, though he didn't seem acquainted with her in any way, for he made no attempts to get her attention.

We went in and sat down at a table, waiting for someone to come in and take our order, when a waiter came out with a plate of what looked to be lasagna, glanced around in confusion, and turned to us.

"Um, excuse me, are either of you interested in the Goya and escargot lasagna?"

* * *

_Arakuyo Kenji's Side_

Because the food had already been prepared, and it would go to waste otherwise, the waiter offered a discount on the price.

And thus, I wound up eating Goya and escargot lasagna.

Miyako-san had ordered some kind of spaghetti, though I really wasn't too concerned with that kind, and was eating contently. The meal had been silent thus far, save for the standard "Itadakimasu!" and off comments about our food, but when Miyako-san looked up at me like she was curious about something, I had a feeling that was about to change.

"Ne, Arakuyo-san?" she asked, pausing to take a sip of her drink before continuing, "Who was that girl? You looked at her like you knew who she was."

I nodded, "Most of the Espers do. She's a Level 5, actually. Her name's Misaka Mikoto… but she's more commonly known as Railgun."

"Level 5?" she looked at me like a cat having just seen it's own reflection in the mirror.

"You don't know about Esper levels?" I asked.

She shook her head, "I'm actually pretty fuzzy on the whole 'Esper' thing, too."

I sighed, "Espers are people with their own 'Personal Realities'. When an Epser uses their powers… they're essentially rejecting the world's reality and substituting their own… however, the basis of this occurs at the subatomic level…"

Much like when she explained things about the magical world to me, Miyako-san was now giving me a blank stare.

"Okay, do you know the Uncertainty Principle?" I asked.

Still a blank stare.

I let out a deep breath, "Alright… let's take the Schrodinger's Cat thought experiment… Lets say there was a cat in a box, right?"

Miyako-san nodded, her mouth full with noodles.

"Okay, and let's say that there's a fifty-fifty chance that a poison will be released into the box after an hour. Now, if you leave the box for an hour, and then come back, you have no way of knowing if the cat is dead without opening the box, right?"

"I guess, yeah," she replied.

"But even inside the box, the cat is alive or dead, right?" I further elaborate.

"Of course, what would it be if it were neither alive or dead?" Miyako asked, taking a sip of her drink.

"Well, the theory of quantum physics states that, without checking the box, the cat would be in a state of being both alive and dead, only by opening the box will it cease being both alive and dead, and start behaving like one or the other." I finished.

"That's ridiculous! Not even magic can do that!" Miyako-san exclaimed, "Scientists obviously lack common sense."

"No, see, that's just a hypothetical. In the case of quantum physics, the 'cat' would be something like a subatomic particle." I corrected.

"Ah, so, what does this have to do with 'Personal Reality' or whatever?" she asked, finishing up her spaghetti and looking expectantly at me.

"Well, let's say that someone believed the cat was alive," I explained, "Let's say that, even before the box was open, their belief that the cat was alive actually forced the cat out of the state where it was both alive and dead, and made it so the cat truly was alive. Essentially, Espers effect the world like this on a subatomic level."

Miyako-san nodded, "I kind of get it… sort of, but what's this about Levels?"

"Ah, yeah, you asked about that too. See, Espers are classified by levels depending on the power. Each Esper emits something called An Involuntary Movement- or AIM - Dispersion Field, which is a field of energy involuntarily created by an Esper. Now, these AIM Dispersion Fields can accurately reflect the power of an Esper. Using these AIM fields, Academy City organizes it's Espers into six levels, starting at 0 and going up to 5. With my current abilities, I'm a Level 3 Epser. Misaka Mikoto is one of the 7 Level 5's in the entire city," I concluded.

"That's impressive," Miyako-san replied, finishing up her drink.

"I actually heard Railgun started off as a Level 3," I replied.

"_You should also theoretically be able to become a Level 5…" _Kamishirasawa-sensei's words rang in my head.

I gritted my teeth. But it didn't seem like Miyako-san noticed.

"If you're done, let's go," I replied, grabbing the bill and taking it to the front desk.

* * *

_Miyako Mizuki's Side_

As I walked behind Arakuyo-san, I watched his actions and noticed how distracted he seemed, almost as though he had something weighing heavily on his mind.

Still, I was curious about something, and his pensive look wouldn't stop me from asking.

"By the way, what is your Epser ability?" I asked.

He looked back at me, "Ah, well, it's-"

Before he could finish, he shot forwards and punched a cloaked figure immediately behind me. The impact was strong enough to send the cloaked figure flying backwards. It was just then I realized that there was no one else around.

"It's a ruin," I exclaimed, "She's a mage."

"Yeah," Arakuyo-san replied, "She was about to stab you with some kind of glowing blade."

"Glowing?" I exclaimed, "She's one of the mages who attacked me yesterday!"

Arakuyo-san frowned as the mage climbed to her feet. She had blonde hair and was wearing a stereotypical witch hat underneath her cloak, which was so impossibly big it couldn't have possibly fit under the cloak to begin with.

"Damn," she wiped a trickle of blood from the corner of her mouth, "What's your fist made out of, rocks?"

I turned to Arakuyo-san and he simply smirked, "Heh, Miyako-san, you were asking what my power was, right?"

I nodded silently, and he crouched into a fighting stance, "Density Shift, the ability to change the density of objects around me… like my fists, for instance."

The mage frowned, "An Esper, huh? Well, even if that's the case, fighting's all about power, ya know!"

She held her arms out and a ruin of some kind of ruin appeared in front of her. From out of it, shot a powerful laser that tore up the street around us, and for a second, I thought she had actually hit Arakuyo-san.

"Heh, up here!" I heard him call, "balloons filled with helium float because they're less dense than air, you know!"

Indeed, he was hovering above where the laser had hit. Though he quickly descended to the ground afterwards.

"Those are some tricks you got there, Esper… but…"

"Oi!" Arakuyo-san yelled, cutting her off, "If you're just gonna brag about how strong your next attack is, then you might as well not even fight!"

He charged at her before she regained her composure, arms held out to his sides and facing forwards.

I imagine he changed the density of his arms, for when he brought them both forwards and slammed them into the mage's torso, she was sent flying into a nearby streetlight.

"Fighting's all about power, you know!" he mocked, "Don't come to Academy City if you can't even beat an average Level 3!"

* * *

_Arakuyo Kenji's Side_

By the time we returned home, it was well after 22:00. I sighed.

"Damn, I have supplementary classes in the morning too…" I complained, plopping down on the couch.

Miyako-san smiled, "Aw, come on! You just beat up a mage! And you saw that laser attack, right!? That had to be magic."

"Yeah," I replied, "Magic exists, I beat up a mage, so what!?"

"Even I had trouble dealing with her yesterday," Miyako-san replied.

"You also said there was another mage there…" I replied, "That's another thing I'm worried about. If there are two mages, it's possible that the other one will show up soon."

"Well, we can worry about that tomorrow!" Miyako-san smiled, "Let's just revel in victory for one night, ne?"

I sighed, "I suppose you're right. But it is late, I need some sleep."

I turned over on the couch and closed my eyes a brief second, but then I felt the presense of Miyako-san approach me.

"What do you think you're doing!?" she scolded me like a mother scolding her child.

"Trying to sleep?" I asked.

"No, you're not sleeping on the couch," she replied stubbornly, "Even if I want to stay here, I won't make you sleep on the couch for it!"

"There's no way in hell I'd let a girl take the couch while I slept in a bed!" I retorted.

"Well, then there's only one solution, isn't there?" Miyako-san smiled, raising an eyebrow suggestively.

"You shameless woman! There's no way in hell that's happening!"

* * *

**AN: I'm going to update this story pretty irregularly, but for those of you familiar with my other stuff, you know I try to stick to at least a chapter a day.**

**Also, Shout-out to Sargent Crash for being the first reviewer. Thanks, dude! Reviews really get me motivated to write faster, and yours was great to read.**

**A bit of a few notes, which by this point is mostly stating the obvious. This story revolves heavily around OCs, and is almost entirely OC-centric. HOWEVER, there will be actual characters in the fanfic, and I don't just mean the cameo by Touma and Mikoto. This fic runs mostly parallel to the canon story as presented in the light novels. Also, there will be references a-plenty, and every so often, maybe five chapters or so, I'll post a list of references for all five chapters in the Author's Note. **


	3. Chapter 3

_Arakuyo Kenji's Side_

I awakened to the familiarity of my own bed and sighed. Supplementary classes were every high school student's nightmare, but I didn't even deserve to be put through them.

A straight A student slapped into a class with an "genius" idiot who never turned in his homework. Unbelievable.

"_You should also theoretically be able to become a Level 5…"_

I gritted my teeth. What the hell did that even mean? My powers were already developed beyond my own calculating abilities… how would they even find something like that out?

I shook my head of these thoughts as I climbed out of bed, dragging the sheets with me somewhat. A mumbled protest from a sleeping figure made me turn around.

Oh, right. We wound up sleeping in the same bed after all.

My dorm was something of a two-room apartment that came with the queen-sized bed that I had climbed out of. As such, there was plenty of room for both of us to sleep on opposite sides, though the closeness was something uncomfortable for me.

The idea of sleeping together with a girl in and of itself was uncomfortable, but what other choice did I have? I wasn't about to force Miyako-san to sleep on the couch, and she wouldn't let me either.

We spent a good twenty minutes arguing over who would sleep where, and it had to have been past midnight when I finally managed to fall asleep. I sincerely hoped I wouldn't fall asleep in class. The last thing I need is to stoop to Tetsuo's level.

I sighed and threw the covers back over the slumbering vampire, who rolled over slightly at the action. I didn't know what time she had to wake up for her job, but I'd leave that responsibility to her.

In the chaos of yesterday, I didn't even get a chance to take a shower when I got home. There was still a couple hours before the supplementary courses began, so I had plenty of time to take one now.

After getting undressed, I climbed into the shower, and as the warm water washed over me, I thought about my current situation.

"I'm currently living with an attractive girl who I barely know…" I muttered to myself. Talking to myself sometimes allowed me to reorganize my thoughts, anyone who considers it creepy be damned, "she's also a vampire, and is apparently immortal, so who knows how old she really is."

I sighed, continuing, "She's currently being pursued by mages, but I managed to defeat one of them yesterday… Still, the other one's still out there too. She got pretty badly injured fighting them, and she doesn't have any magical abilities to protect herself. I hope she doesn't become someone I have to save all the time. The last thing I need is a damsel-in-distress waiting to happen…"

Suddenly, there was a frantic knock on the bathroom door, "Arakuyo-san! Are you in there?"

"Who else would it be!?" I called back. I probably sounded harsher than I meant to, but I'm not exactly a morning person, so I have a tendency to be a bit more abrasive when I just wake up.

"Hurry up!" she whined, "I gotta use the toilet!"

With larger houses and apartments, most bathrooms are kept separate from the toilet rooms per tradition, but most of the student dorms, at least on this side of town, took on a more western architecture.

Of course, such a problem never arose when I was living alone, but now that Miyako-san was living with me, I would have to be more mindful of such things.

Still, part of me couldn't help but find this amusing. A vampire was outside my bathroom door, desperate to use the toilet. In my mind, vampires had always been these fearsome creatures of fantasy; inhuman, bat-winged devils tainted scarlet with blood who only walked where the sun couldn't reach.

Needless to say, Miyako-san was helping to shatter that increasingly fragile image.

"Come on!" she whined further, knocking on the door again, "I gotta gooo~!"

I sighed. I was finished with my shower anyway. I climbed out and wasted no time swiftly drying myself off before wrapping the towel around my waist and opened the door.

I expected Miyako-san to rush past me, but instead she gave my bare torso a once-over with wide eyes. She almost looked impressed.

"What, didn't you have to go or something? Don't tell me you rushed me for no reason!" I replied.

As if she had just remembered her urgent need, she brushed past me quickly and closed the bathroom door.

I got dressed and opened the fridge to prepare breakfast, only to be greeted with a dark light and the smell of spoiled food.

"W-what the hell?" I asked. I sighed and instead grabbed some bread and popped it in the toaster. I grabbed a jar of jam out of the fridge. They tell you to refrigerate it after opening, but jam would be fine after only one night of no refrigeration.

By the time Miyako-san stumbled groggily into the kitchen, I was already sitting at the couch with a piece of toast in my mouth.

"Morning," I replied. I glanced over at the news when I heard "_80% of appliances were knocked out."_

"_It seems the cause was a mysterious electrical storm that struck some of the major power lines-"_

While I did have power over density, I wasn't dense.

"Mysterious electrical storm" probably meant "a certain Level 5 Esper".

I wondered briefly if this had anything to do with the diner incident last night.

"Good morning, Arakuyo-san!" Miyako-san smiled, "what's for breakfast?"

"Toast and jam, unless you're keen on eating spoiled udon, rancid yakisoba sandwiches, or cup noodles…" I replied.

"Hmm? What happened?" Miyako-san asked, grabbing some toast for herself.

"Railgun happened…" I replied bluntly.

* * *

_Miyako Mizuki's Side_

After breakfast, I saw Arakuyo-san off and turned around. Work wasn't for another hour, and a bath would probably be a good idea.

I slipped out of my clothes and stepped into shower. It was one of those shower/tub hybrids, so I could fill it up like a regular tub and just let myself soak for a bit, and that's exactly what I intended to do. Once the bath was hot and steamy, I climbed in slowly and let myself relax.

Or at least, I tried to.

"Geez, Arakuyo-san," I muttered, recalling the image of the red-haired teen standing in front of me, his waist wrapped in a towel and his bare torso still slightly damp from the shower, "You didn't tell me you were ripped under that shirt."

Well, ripped was a bit of an overstatement, but he was more muscular than I had imagined. He looked pretty scrawny when he had a shirt on, but with it off, he was all lithe muscles.

I always expected Espers to be the brains-over-brawn type that allowed their abilities to be their only strength.

"Heh," I looked up at the ceiling, "Look at me, all hot-and-bothered over someone like him."

My eyes widened as soon as it left my mouth. "Hot-and-bothered"? Is that why I couldn't get the image out of my mind? Is that really what was going on here.

Even though I was a 147-year-old vampire, I felt every bit as flustered as the school girl I looked like. I let myself sink deeper into the water and blew bubbles a bit before standing up, water pouring off my naked form.

"Nah! Besides, it's like Arakuyo-san said," I recalled, "We barely know each other!"

* * *

_Arakuyo Kenji's Side_

Kamishirasawa-sensei was waiting for me when I entered the classroom.

"Welcome, Arakuyo-san!" she smiled, "Kurogori-san hasn't arrived yet, but I'm sure he'll arrive shortly."

The only way someone like Kamishirasawa-sensei would have enough faith to say something like that is if she took measures to ensure Tetsuo would _definitely _be coming.

And sure enough, ten minutes later, and in fact five minutes late, walked in a groggy Kurogori Tetsuo.

"You're late, Kurogori-san.." Kamishirasawa-sensei shot the blue-haired boy a death glare so potent that even in his groggy state, made Tetsuo shudder slightly.

"Alright, then! Kurogori-san, finish this packet," Kamishirasawa-sensei instructed, pulling out a packet of papers as thick as two textbooks and dropped it on Testuo's desk.

The boy stared at it tiredly for a few moments, then looked up at the teacher, "What's all this?"

"That," Kamishirasawa-sensei smiled, though it was more like one of those sadistic smiles, "Is all the classwork you slept through."

"You want me to do all this?" the boy asked.

"When you're done with that, there's still the packet of all the homework you didn't bother turning in," she smiled, "But of course, since you're doing it this late… you'll also have to do some extra-credit assignments to bring your grades up."

"You're cruel, sensei…" Tetsuo looked on at the huge piles of papers Kamishirasawa-sensei motioned to behind her, "Geez, what a pain…"

I watched as he groaned, running his fingers through his icy-blue hair before picking up the pencil and getting to work.

Kamishirasawa-sensei turned to me, "As you know, the System Scan involves both reading the AIM Dispersion Field with a machine to calculate an Esper's ability, as well as a proficiency examination. Here are the AIM Field scan results, paired up with the proficiency exam results."

I was handed to pieces of paper. As I expected, my proficiency exam results were 3, however, what I didn't expect was the AIM Field scan's result.

Printed on the paper, clear as day in a bold, dark font, was a solid "5".

"A… a five?" I asked.

"It wasn't a mistake, either. We double-checked all the data. Your current ability is at Level 5, but your proficiency is only a 3. The phenomenon where one's ability surpasses their own proficiency is rare, but it's happened before. In those cases, training and studying with someone with a similar ability seemed to close the gap a bit. That is what I hope to do." Kamishirasawa-sensei explained.

"There's someone with an ability like Density Shift?" I asked.

Kamishirasawa-sensei smiled and placed her hands on the desk, closed her eyes, and I watched as the desk rose into the air. Then it slammed into the floor hard enough to crack the tiles.

She was manipulating it's density.

"Most teachers don't have Esper abilities… but I'm not 'most teachers'," she replied, grinning, "I can only manipulate the densities of things I'm touching, but our abilities are similar enough that training with me should help you greatly."

I nodded, "So, what does training entail?"

The truly sadistic look that Kamishirasawa-sensei gave me after I asked that sent shivers down my spine.

* * *

_Miyako Mizuki's Side_

Work wasn't necessarily exciting endeavor, but that didn't mean I disliked it. I want to say something like, "When you've lived as long as I have, menial tasks can't even be thought of as work.", but of course, that kind of sentence would make me sound like an old lady.

"Young lady?" one of my customers asked me, "Shouldn't someone your age be in school?"

I started ringing up her items as I answered calmly, "Ah, actually, I have night classes, so I work during the day."

I had done some research, and there were a few schools offering night courses, so no one would question me saying that.

"That's no good!" The lady frowned, "Shouldn't kids experience school during the day? Kids these days… you'd think they're vampires with how they stay inside and avoid the sunlight all the time!"

I tried to give her a polite smile, but I couldn't help feel it felt forced.

"Oho~!" she smiled, "Look at me, I'm being rude, aren't I?"

"Your total is 2400 Yen," I read out for her, ignoring her question. I turned back and sighed.

Humans sure had some pretty backwards ideas about vampires.

Vampires could go out in sunlight, we could taste food, we could cross running water, we could eat garlic, a stake through the heart would leave a normal wound we could heal easily, and we weren't all prone to extreme OCD tendencies.

In fact, there were only three notable differences between humans and vampires. We had fangs, and could drink blood. This was our main sustenance. We were immortal, though it was possible to kill a vampire if their head was destroyed. Even if we were decapitated and our body was burned to a crisp, as long as we had a head and could still suck blood, we could heal our injuries. Lastly, we had an infinite amount of magical energy, so vampires were rather prone to becoming mages.

Dragging me away from my thoughts was a woman who walked up to the counter. She was a kind looking woman that couldn't be any older than 25, standing with her eyes closed apologetically as she rubbed the back of her head. She was wearing a pair of black skinny jeans and a long sleeved shirt despite the heat, and her icy-blue hair was cut short, barely coming down past her chin in the front, and certainly no longer than her nape in the back.

She smiled at me politely, and...

placed fifty cans of a particular brand of soda down on the counter.

"Eeehhh!?" I replied, looking down at the pile of cans covering up the entirety of the counter.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" the woman replied, "My younger brother only drinks this brand… and they don't sell them in multiple packs either… what a pain he is…"

"I-it's… no trouble, ma'am!" I replied, hoping the sentence hadn't sounded too forced.

As I rang up one can, she continued, though I couldn't be sure if she was talking to me or herself, "Next time, I'm absolutely making him do this! He's so lazy I can't believe I actually agreed to do this for him…"

I entered "x50" into the register and the total came up. I almost didn't want to read it out loud.

"His teacher called me up yesterday and told me he had to take supplementary courses!" she continued to rant as she pulled out her purse to pay for the soda, "He's got an IQ of 250! 250! He's just too damn lazy to do any work!"

I nodded at her politely as she handed me the cash, and I gave her the change.

"Here you go, ma'am!" I replied, handing her the reciept.

"Oh, there's no need to call me 'ma'am'! I'm not that old, you know. Call me Kurogori-san! I'm a regular here, so you'll be seeing me again!"

* * *

_Arakuyo Kenji's Side_

"One more lap after this, and then we'll move on to the pushups!" Kamishirasawa-sensei smiled, "I used to be a PE teacher, you know!"

P.E. To scientist and physics teacher, what a shift.

I was currently running around the track field in a standard gym uniform, but don't let that fool you. Kamishirasawa-sensei changed the density of the shirt so it was heavier.

The way Density Shift works can be a bit confusing, so let me explain it to you.

"Matter cannot be created nor destroyed", this is the law of conservation of mass, and it heavily affects the way Density Shift is used.

Density is a measure of mass per unit of volume, with the SI unit of kg/m3. But it would be inconvenient if I just changed the density of an object by making it take up more or less space. Theoretically, I _could, _but there wouldn't be much point.

So, how does a person with Density Shift change the mass of an object without changing it's volume?

The answer is energy.

According to Einstein's Mass-to-Energy relation, energy can become mass, and mass can become energy. Therefore, the standard procedure for a person using Density Shift becomes a matter of converting matter to energy and focusing it or dispersing it depending on the desired effect.

For instance, if I wanted to make something more dense, I would convert matter in the air to create large amounts of energy, then transfer that energy to whatever I wanted to affect.

Furthermore, if I wanted to make something less dense, it was a matter of turning matter into energy and dispersing it, through, when performing this on my own body, I can't do it very long, since I need to keep that energy to convert back into it's original mass.

I made another lap around the track field, watching as Kamishirasawa-sensei smiled at me.

"How is this training!" I asked her.

"Exercise is incredibly beneficial to brain's health," she explained, smiling, "Besides, isn't it good to be strong in case you can't rely on your powers?"

"Don't give me that, you just can't think of how to train me yet, so you're stalling for time, aren't you?" I accused.

"My, my," she smiled, "You're already more perceptive. Or maybe you're just cynical?"

I groaned, looking up at the classroom. Damn that lazy-ass Tetsuo! Even though he has a big packet to worry about, he's probably staring out the window, watching my torture commence.

Or maybe he's just sleeping.

Either way, I couldn't help but let out a call, one I had heard ring out through the streets every once in a while. It Always sounded like the same person said it every time, too, but I was never curious enough to find out.

Now, typically my luck was rather average, I never won any vending machine roulettes, or lotteries, but I wasn't terribly unlucky either. Today, however, was throwing everything it could at me. The broken fridge, the supplementary courses, this hellish torture thought up by Kamishirasawa-sensei… Thus, I called out to the skies the phrase I had heard before but never once said…

"Such misfortune!"

* * *

_Miyako Mizuki's Side_

By the time Arakuyo-san had returned home, I was already back from work.

Furthermore, he looked like a train-wreck. His red hair was even more disheveled and unruly that it normally was. He was dragging his legs on the ground, and he wasn't even swinging his arms. His whole body was hunched over, and he didn't even bother to say "Tadaima" when he walked in.

He plopped himself down on the couch and sighed.

"Rough day?" I asked him. The words were oddly reminiscent of what a wife might say to their husband who has just come home from a long day at the office.

I felt my face heat up and shook my head. What was with that silly thought going through my mind!?

"Kamishirasawa-sensei is the USC!" Arakuyo-san replied.

If that was supposed to be some kind of otaku terminology, I wasn't familiar with it.

I looked over at the tired man and sighed, "You know, I meant to ask this, but… do you have any siblings?"

"Hmm?" I looked up at her, "No… I'm an only child… though I do have a cousin… in fact. I used to live with my cousin and my uncle before moving to Academy City… why?"

"Hmmm… then do you know anyone by the name of Kurogori?"

It was a simple question, but at the mention of that name, he fell off of the couch and got a stern look on his face.

"Kurogori Tetsuo…" he replied, "He's a student in my class… He's supposed to be the second smartest student in Academy City with an IQ of 250… but he's way too lazy to be a threat. He's not even a Level 5!"

"I take it by that glare you've been sporting since I brought up his name, that he's not a friend of yours."

"He got to sit inside doing desk work while I had to run laps and do pushups with an additional 50 kg added onto me!" He complained, "Then when we got back in, he announced to the teacher he finished the entire packet! At this rate, he'll be done with his work for the supplementary courses, and I'll be left to be tortured by Kamishirasawa-sensei!"

"Ah, so that's who she was…" I replied, mostly to myself. Of course, Arakuyo-san overheard me.

He gave me one of his patented confused looks, so I explained, "A woman came in and bought 50 cans of a particular soda and started complaining about her younger brother."

"Hmm," he started, "I didn't know that lazy-ass lived with his sister."

"That's probably because you don't talk to him much…" I pointed out, "Maybe you should be nicer to him?"

"Are you kidding, he's the one I can't talk to. I've tried," Arakuyo-san explained, "I just don't like that guy."

I sighed, but didn't press the issue.

"Say, you're tired, so should we go out to eat again?" I asked after a few moments of still silence.

He got up groggily and nodded, "Yeah, let's go."

* * *

_Arakuyo Kenji's Side_

We didn't do anything special this time, just a cheap fast food restaurant specializing in Yakitori.

We didn't really talk about anything throughout the meal either. Just silence as we ate our food.

It was weird, it was that kind of environment you expected between two close friends, not two relative strangers.

Regardless, I did nothing to break the silence.

I was too busy thinking about the new information I found out today. Namely, that Kamishirasawa-sensei had a similar ability to mine.

I had always assumed Kamishirasawa-sensei just did work for the Power Curriculum Program, but if she had her own power, her ties with the program ran deeper than I thought.

I sighed and glanced out the window next to us, resting my hands on the table.

And then I noticed him.

He was a man with short spikey blond hair, standing across the quiet street from the fast food joint. He was wearing a long, white overcoat and had circular, red sunglasses over his eyes. He had a bit of a 5 o'clock shadow, and was staring directly at us.

No, he was staring directly at Miyako-san.

In the next moment, he was right in front of the window, and I immediately shot up. A ruin appeared around his fist, and his entire arm turned metallic as he punched through the glass.

The lady manning the register screamed, and Miyako shot up as well to avoid the broken shards.

"Pardon the intrusion, laddie," he spoke in a thick Irish accent, "but the Irish Catholic Church is mighty interested in that wee lass behind yeh."

"Wait, a mage from the church?" I asked, "Don't religious folks hate witchcraft."

"Ah, yeh ignorant twit," he replied, "You know nothin' of the magic world, yet yeh insist on helpin' that green-haired blood-suckin' vermin!"

"That's him!" Miyako-san called, "That's the second guy who tried to attack me!"

I immediately held my arms out in front of her, "Back off."

"What can yeh do, laddie!? Oh, yehr one of 'em 'Espers', druggin' yerself up in the name of science, turnin' yer back on the pure ways!"

He created another small ruin in front of his hand, and before I knew it, a knife shot out of it and dug itself into my shoulder.

"Gah!" I grasped my arm in pain.

He summoned three more ruins, and aimed them all at me. I gritted my teeth and pulled the knife out of my arm.

I had already studied the mass and composition of the knife.

High-carbon steel… wooden handle carved from ebony… weight, 210g… dimensions, 10 cm from tip to end, 3 cm wide, looking down the end of the blade, it's widest point was handle, at 1.5 cm across.

I was ready.

Knives shot forth from the ruins...

and stopped, falling to the ground like poorly made paper airplanes.

"What in the Lord's name did yeh do to my knives, lad?" the Irishman asked, "Well, now… allow me to tell you my name… I'm Allistair O'Reilly, Magic Name, Interficere310. I exist for one purpose, hunting and killing!"

He reached forwards and jabbed a new, entirely different knife directly into my stomach.

"Gah!" I recoiled, stepping back. The pain was immense, but if he was here to hunt down Miyako-san…

I pulled out the knife and increased the density of a layer of air around the wound so it would hold the blood in like an invisible bandage.

"Oh, are yeh still gonna fight! No matter! You'll be sleepin' with nessie one way or another!" O'Reilly taunted. I charged forwards at him, but he sidestepped my sloppy attack.

"Yehr gonna have to do better than that, laddie!" he mocked, firing more knives at me. I didn't have time to stop them all, and I wound up getting hit in my leg.

Damn, now I can't charge him, not like that was very effective. I shifted my weight to my other leg and pushed off, decreasing my density briefly enough to increase my momentum, then increased the density of my own fists.

"I saw you fightin' the little lassie yesterday, boy-o! That sloppy attack isn't gonna work on me!" He yelled, sidestepping and kicking me to the ground.

I coughed up some blood and briefly lost control of the air around my wound, allowing blood to spray out.

I was in pretty bad shape, to be honest.

I should've probably stayed down… but as I saw him step closer to a petrified Miyako-san, I clenched my teeth.

Images of her, lying in the alleyway, bloodied and battered filled my mind. I wasn't about to let that happen again.

"AAAAHHHHHH!" I yelled, climbing to my feet.

O'Reilly turned around and glared at me, "You should've stayed down, laddie!"

Numerous ruins appeared around me, too many to calculate… to many to block…

"They're gonna have to glue you back together, IN HELL!" he yelled.

Just then, however, a large, magical blast of energy came shooting out of the restaurant nearby. It was the girl from yesterday who I beat up, touching Miyako-san and glowing with magical energy.

The blast hit O'Reilly and sent him flying into a nearby building before he collapsed, unconsious. The magical ruins around me disappeared, and the girl was grinning madly.

"Fighting's all about power, ya know!" she smiled, scratching the bottom of her nose like a kid who just did something good and is waiting to get praised.

I was still worried about her being here, and I wasn't sure if I could trust her, but I didn't have much of a choice. I only managed to take one step forwards before collapsed to the ground. The last thing I heard was the faint sound of sirens growing closer and Miyako-san calling my name urgently.

* * *

**AN: Well, that concludes this chapter, as well as what was probably the worst day of Arakuyo Kenji's life.**

**What's this about the mage girl saving his life? What's going on with his teacher having the same ability as him? Will the Kurogori's, the only other named characters in the story so far, ever get major roles?**

**Why am I asking you all these questions, when clearly I know the answers?**

**Because I feel like it, mostly.**

**Hope you enjoyed the chapter! **


	4. Chapter 4

_Arayuko Kenji's Side_

I woke up to the sterile smell and harsh lighting of a hospital room.

I looked around, but Miyako-san was nowhere to be found. Instead, the only face I was met with was the frog-like face of a doctor I had met before.

He was, of course, the resident doctor of this hospital.

"You were in critical condition, so I could only let family members in." he replied, bowing slightly, "You're cousin stopped by, but she didn't stay long."

"Yeah," I nodded, "I imagine she wouldn't. She probably didn't leave anything either."

"She left a note for me to give you," the doctor corrected, handing me a crumpled up piece of paper. On it was scribbled quite messily one short sentence.

"_Glad you're not dead… idiot."_

"Tch…" I clenched my teeth, "Ungrateful little… who the hell spent a month bringing you shit in the hospital when you screwed up your leg, damnit!"

I sighed, I shouldn't get so worked up over someone who wasn't even in the room.

Needless to say, my relationship with my cousin is… dicey at best. It's the farthest away from those stereotypical relationships where the younger cousin calls you "onii-chan" and looks forwards to seeing you when you visit.

Though, I guess the problem wasn't distance. My cousin also lives in Academy City, but I wouldn't feel like visiting her unless I had to.

"Anyway, I can call your friends in now, if you want," he replied.

"Sure, call her-" I paused, "Wait… friend_s_?"

* * *

_Miyako Mizuki's Side_

"I'm Kirisame Renko! Rogue witch extraordinaire!" I watched the blond-haired, golden-eyed, witch hat-clad girl next to me announce brightly. It wasn't just her hat. Her entire outfit underneath her cloak was that of a stereotypical western-style witch.

She herself looked to be around 14-15 years old, though I couldn't be sure, and she was sitting on the chair, swinging her legs back and forth like a young child.

I could see that Arakuyo-san was confused again, so I filled him in, "See, that O'Reilly guy back there mentioned he was from the Irish Catholic Church. In fact, most mages these days are actually from religious groups. Anyway, Renko-san here is a rogue witch, meaning she's not actually affiliated with any religious groups."

"Of course not!" she frowned, "Magic's all about power, ya know! Those uppity religious nuts are always doing rituals and being all finicky! Magic doesn't have to be precise!"

I sighed, "Anyway, she was captured by O'Reilly and forced to work for him, but when you beat her so easily, he decided she wasn't worth the effort and tied her up."

"He was gonna drag me to Ireland!" she pouted, "So the unbelievably cute and incredibly skilled Renko-chan used her Grimoire of Lasers to destroy the ropes! Conveniently, I also blew a hole straight through the wall, so I could take off immediately on my broom!"

"And that's when you showed up next to Miyako-san and blasted O'Reilly into the wall and saved our lives," Arakuyo-san finished for her.

"Yup! So, in actuality, I'm on your guy's side! A rogue witch like me doesn't need to capture a vampire or anything silly like that! In fact, it's more like if I was noticed at all, I'd be captured, since I'm not affiliated with any churches!" Renko-san smiled.

"Is that really anything to brag about?" Arakuyo-san deadpanned.

"It's fine, I don't have much to worry about! I blend in like a normal middle school student. It's almost like I'm a magical girl! Middle school student by day, magical witch by night!" she smiled.

"Where do you live, anyway?" I asked, turning to Renko-san.

Suddenly, her face paled, "A-a-ah! I just remembered, I've been missing for two days! If the dorm supervisor finds out I've been gone… even if I'm not caught, my roommate's gonna chew me up so hard for this! It was nice meeting you, Miyako-san, Arakuyo-san! Later!"

I laughed lightly as I turned towards Arakuyo-san, only to freeze when I saw the serious expression on his face.

"Ne, Arakuyo-san?" I asked, "What's wrong?"

"I wasn't able to protect you…" he replied, looking down, "I wasn't even able to protect myself back there…"

I smiled, "You still fought hard for me, I appreciate it!"

He just sighed and looked down. I could tell he had a lot on his mind, but I had a feeling asking questions would be a bad idea.

"Look, the doc says you're gonna have to stay overnight, at least," I replied, standing up, "And visiting hours are almost up… so…"

No reaction.

"I'm leaving, you know!" I turned around.

Still no reaction.

"Geez, can't you at least pretend you're going to miss me?"

Silence.

I stormed over to the door, but just before I walked out, I gave him a weak, "See ya."

As I walked away, I was greeted with the same silence.

"The nerve of that guy!" I muttered, but even as I said it, I thought about things logically. Maybe I'm the one with some nerve, asking a person I've only known for two days to pretend he'll miss me for one night.

I walked out of the hospital and into the street, towards his dorm. But even then, I felt like I was walking further and further from home.

* * *

_Kurogori Tetsuo's Side_

"I don't care if it's 1:00 or 9:59… waking up before the hour is two digits is too damn early," I replied, crawling out of bed.

Most students at Academy City lived in a student dorm. I was one of the people who, rather than a dorm, lived in a small house. One belonging to my older sister.

I trotted over to the kitchen and opened the fridge. My favorite brand of soda had been restocked, "Ah, so, you got more… thanks."

I turned my attention to the woman sitting on a leather couch with a laptop perched on her lap. She was wearing only a black bra and matching panties, and the dark circles under her eyes probably indicated she had stayed up all night.

"Sis," I replied, "It's bad for your health to stay up all night. Besides… how can you not love sleep. You don't have to do shit when you're sleeping."

She frowned, "Ah, Tetsuo! Thanks for worrying about your Onee-san!"

"I'm not worried," I replied bluntly, "Even though I took the effort to say that, the probability of you getting a good night sleep tonight is minuscule. These constant nights of ill-sleep patterns will one day catch up to you, and when you have to walk in a wheelchair or some stupid shit like that, I'm going to say 'I told you so.'"

"Oi!" her look grew stern, "Don't talk to me like that just because you're the second smartest in Academy City! Must I remind you that I'm the third?"

Of course she didn't, I have a near-photographic memory, but I didn't say as much.

It was true. Though my sister had no Epser abilities, her IQ was 220. Mine was 250, but even that was a considerable gap away from the first-smartest, who was also the strongest in Academy City.

Accelerator, whose IQ measured in at around 350, was not someone I'd want to meet in a fight.

Or, perhaps, for that very reason, he was someone I absolutely wanted to meet, though perhaps a fight would be a bit much.

Actually, such a fight would probably be a pain in the ass anyway, so such a thought was useless.

I rubbed my wrists- and the white bracelets I constantly wore on them- before grabbing a piece of toast already on the table and staggering out of the house.

Supplementary courses… all that work. Maybe I should just finish it all today…

I shook my head, that would be too much of a pain in the ass… Besides, I don't want Kamishirasawa-sensei thinking I'm doing it for her expectations of me.

"See you later, Tetsuo!" I heard my sister call from the house. I hadn't even said, "I'm heading out!", but I guess she would pretend to be preoccupied with the computer, while secretly watching me until I left.

I finished off the can of soda I was drinking and tossed it into the nearest trashcan.

"Why can't I enjoy my lazy life without shit like this? Going to school during the summer... What the hell is with that?" I complained. But even as I said this, it felt and sounded as half-assed as it sounded emotionless.

Unexpectedly, a tabby cat came running across my feet with a startled cry, and I looked over at where it had came from. A girl, looking to be in middle school sat staring emotionlessly at where the cat sauntered off to.

The girl herself had brown hair and greyish-brown, emotionless eyes. She was wearing some sort of school uniform, with a beige summer sweater over a collared white shirt and a grey skirt. She also carried with her a strange pair of what looked to be night-vision goggles in her left hand, which was crossed over her right and hugging her knees as she sat crouched over.

More notably was that she was the spitting image of Railgun, one of the city's Level 5's.

I looked over at the shadow cast by one of the streetlamps, 8:35 and 36 seconds, from my calculations.

I was supposed to be at the supplementary class at 9:00 on the dot, and it would take me 15 minutes to get there, so I had time.

I turned around and continued on my way.

Even if I had time, talking to people unnecessarily was pointless.

* * *

_Arakuyo Kenji's Side_

I walked down the road with a slight limp as I made my way to my supplementary class. The doctor said that even if I felt better, he'd have prefered me to stay in bed for a day longer, but then he got a call from Kamishirasawa-sensei, and changed his mind immediately.

He didn't look like the kind of doctor to get phased easily, to which I shudder to think what sensei could've possibly said to him to make him change his mind.

I sighed, at least Kamishirasawa-sensei couldn't make me run around like this.

I checked my watch. 8:36. Good, I'd be able to make it, even at my slowed pace.

I got stuck at a stoplight on the way to the school and absentmindedly glanced to my right.

That's when I noticed her.

Misaka Mikoto.

Railgun.

She was standing next to me, a blank look on her face, gazing forwards like she was staring at something in the distance, but when I tried to follow her gaze, I only found the average, everyday bustle of Academy City.

As if that weren't strange enough, perched atop her head was a pair of military-style goggles, presumably for night vision. I had passed by Tokiwadai's Ace in the streets before, but the goggles were new.

I sighed. Whatever. There was one thing on my mind, and perhaps it was because I had a bad day yesterday, but I couldn't stop myself from venting my frustrations.

"Oi! You caused me some trouble yesterday with that stupid ability of yours, Railgun!" I accused.

The girl barely turned her head towards me, but rather than looking shocked or confused, she simply gazed at me emotionlessly.

"Yeah, I'm no idiot! I know it was your ability that caused 80% of the city's appliances to short out!" I elaborated, sounding annoyed.

"'MISAKA doesn't know what you're talking about' says MISAKA as she notices the light turning green."

Her voice was as emotionless as her gaze, and to be quite frank, it creeped me out.

She started walking forwards, but I wasn't about to let her get off so easily.

"You caused a lot of problems for people, I bet," I continued, "Shouldn't Level 5s be more responsible with their powers?"

The girl looked at me, replying with, "'Level Five? MISAKA thinks you might be confusing her with her Onee-san' MISAKA says, trying to clarify with the stranger."

"Onee-san…" I paused, "Are you twins or something, you look exactly the same…"

Misaka's eyes widened, if only very slightly, when something behind me caught her eye. I turned around, but the only thing behind me was an alleyway with no exit.

"'MISAKA is sorry, but MISAKA has to go,' MISAKA explains to the stranger. 'Don't follow me,' MISAKA adds with a sense of urgency."

In the next moment, she rushed into the dead-end alleyway, and I frowned.

"What was that all about?" I muttered to myself. I then looked around. I had gotten distracted talking to Railgun's sister and had forgotten to turn. I was walking in the wrong direction.

I looked down at my watch, "8:42…" I sighed. Even in the condition I was in now, I would have to run.

* * *

_Kurogori Tetsuo's Side_

I arrived exactly two minutes and forty-five seconds early this time, which was way better than my five minutes and fifteen seconds late yesterday.

Kamishirasawa-sensei smiled at me when I came in, "Oho, you're not late this time, Kurogori-san!"

I didn't grace the teacher with a response. Instead, I merely sat down at my desk and frowned. The piles of papers sensei wanted me to finish were already stacked up.

I sighed. Maybe if I finished all the work today after all, I wouldn't have to go in tomorrow. I could sleep in and start enjoying my summer. I cracked my knuckles, an action that would normally be accompanied with a smirk or a look of motivation went without. If anything, I probably looked bored.

Doing this much work was a pain, but if it meant I could sleep in tomorrow, it was bearable.

The person late this time was Arakuyo Kenji. It was only by one minute and twenty-eight seconds, but it was enough to make me curious enough to look up.

He looked like a train-wreck.

There were a few bandages wrapped around his left forearm, he was walking with a limp, and he was panting and sweating like he had run here.

"My my, you made it after all, Kenji-kun!" Kamishirasawa-sensei replied.

"Kenji-kun"? What's with that kind of change?

I shook my head. As smart as I was, Kamishirasawa-sensei's actions were confusing to me sometimes.

"Ha, ha," Kenji panted, "Sorry I'm late…"

Kamishirasawa-sensei shook her head, "Even though I called the doctor ahead of time… Well, I don't suppose we'll be able to train again… so here."

A packet almost as large as my own from yesterday was placed on his desk.

"Finish it before lunch," the teacher replied, giving Kenji one of her patented death-glares.

Kenji looked down on it and frowned, "Eh!? But this packet is huge, it took lazy-ass over there a day to finish something like this!"

"Heh, I took a nap while you guys were out," I bragged. I didn't put much effort into sounding arrogant, however, so it wound up sounding half-assed.

"You're inability to make quick calculations while under pressure is the very reason you wound up in that state," Kamishirasawa-sensei replied. Putting on a serious face, she added, "You want to be able to protect the people you care about, right?"

I watched the red-haired teen next to me grit his teeth.

I looked over, mildly curious. Just what had happened to Kenji?

"I'm going to close the gap between my proficiency and my ability level," Kenji announced, a serious look on his face, "I've already decided… I'm going to become a Level 5…"

Kamishirasawa-sensei smiled, "I'm glad to hear that!"

She then turned to glare daggers at me, "If only you could be so motivated!"

I shrugged. Motivation was overrated.

Besides, there were things Kamishirasawa-sensei didn't know about me, and I preferred it if things stayed like that.

* * *

_Arakuyo Kenji's Side_

I sighed. I had managed it. I didn't think it was possible, but I had actually managed to finish the packet.

At least, that's what I would've liked to say. But when Kamishirasawa-sensei returned to the classroom, the packet full of complex calculations and physics problems, all related to density, was only half-done.

I heard a slight snore next to me. Oh yeah. I also had to sit here and watch lazy-ass next to me sleep. He actually finished all the work on his desk, and went over to the teacher's desk to grab the next stack before finishing that up, too. He only had two stacks of paper left to do, and the day wasn't even over yet.

I was surprised he was that motivated, but when I pointed it out to him, he said this.

"_I hate working hard, but if it means I don't have to come in tomorrow, I'll bear with it. I'll sleep in all day tomorrow to reward myself."_

I sighed.

Kamishirasawa-sensei came over to me and looked at the packet. I was afraid she was about to chew me out.

"Hmm, half-done, huh?" she replied, picking up the packet from off my desk and flipping through the answers quickly, "Well, it's impressive you finished this much. These are college-level physics equations, after all."

I sighed in relief, "So, you didn't actually want me to finish the packet before lunch?"

She frowned at me, "Well, that would've been ideal, but I suppose there is a reason you're still a Level 3."

I sighed, "We've only been at this for two days, I'm not going to magically grow smarter overnight!"

"I wonder about that," she muttered, though it was probably to herself, "At any rate, let's eat lunch!"

Kamishirasawa-sensei pulled out a large bento. She had told us not to bring lunches yesterday, but I didn't know why. It's surprising that the teacher would go through the trouble of making lunch for all of us.

It was a standard lunch of various stir-fried meats and vegetables, with rice and some onigiri. It was simple, but honestly I wasn't expecting even this much from Kamishirasawa-sensei.

I briefly wondered what the chances of it being poisoned were. Or laced with some experimental drug to promote brain growth and motivation.

"I-Itadakimasu…" I smiled, though it probably looked as fake as it felt.

I closed my eyes and forced myself to take a bite. Surprisingly, it was really good.

"It's delicious! Thank you, sensei!" I replied.

She smiled and started eating with us. It was a strange dynamic, but I wasn't entirely uncomfortable with it.

I looked over at Tetsuo and recalled Miyako-san's words.

"_Maybe you should be nicer to him."_

I sighed. It was worth a shot. It beats eating in this uncomfortable silence.

"H-hey, Tetsuo-san?" I began, unsure of how he would react to me calling him on a first-name basis.

He didn't seem to care much, and replied, "Hm?"

"So uh, I didn't know you had an older sister…" I replied. It was the best thing I could come up with to break the ice.

"How do you know that? I don't remember ever telling you," he replied boredly. It was like he really didn't care how I knew.

"A-ah! One of my friends met her yesterday!" I replied quickly.

"I see," he answered, paying more attention to his chopsticks than to the conversation.

I frowned, that didn't work at all.

"You know, speaking of sisters," I began, "did you know that Misaka Mikoto has a twin?"

"Hm? A twin, really?" he replied. For the first time in any of my attempted conversations with him, he actually seemed mildly interested.

"Yeah, I met her earlier today. She's the spitting image of Railgun," I replied.

"Hm… you might have met the same person I did, then," he noted, "I met someone on my way here that looked like Railgun. She was playing with a cat, but something scared it off."

"What a coincidence, I met her on my way here too," I replied, "Around 8:30."

Tetsuo's eyes widened, if only slightly, "Wait, I also met the Railgun look-alike around 8:30…"

"So, you must've actually met Railgun, and I met her twin…" I concluded.

"Well, I didn't actually talk to her, but I guess that's the case…" Tetsuo frowned.

"Oho, what's this?" Kamishirasawa-sensei smiled, "Oddly enough, on my way here, I too met a Railgun-look alike… it was also around 8:30…"

"What?" Tetsuo's eyes widened even further. He was actually fully invested into the conversation.

"Maybe it was one of the ones you saw? I was on my way here from my house, which is east of here," she added.

"Even so," Tetsuo replied, "That doesn't make sense… Your house is east from here… the hospital is northwest, and my house is west. Even if you were wrong about the time by ten minutes or so, it still would've been impossible for us all to have seen a Railgun look-alike assuming there's only two…"

"Well," I began, "The Misaka I met didn't exactly say they were twins… I kinda just jumped to that conclusion since they look alike."

"Still," Tetsuo frowned, "The probability of identical triplets is minuscule at best, and this is my first time hearing that Railgun had so much as a twin…"

"My, my... This conversation became serious all of a sudden," Kamishirasawa-sensei noted, smiling, "Ah, lunch is over, isn't it?"

We looked at the time. Without realizing it, we had used up the half-hour lunch period in a flash.

"Anyway, you guys keep working hard, I have to check something!" Kamishirasawa-sensei smiled and headed out the door, leaving us behind.

"Tch," I heard Tetsuo scoff, "She left us with the cleanup!"

* * *

_Kurogori Tetsuo's Side_

I had managed to finish up most of the work, but I had left a small packet behind to finish at my leisure. Who knows? Maybe I'd wind up staying the whole week after all?

I frowned, "As if," I said aloud, "Waking up early is annoying."

I turned the corner and noticed the same tabby cat from earlier. It was cleaning itself in the middle of a park by my house. I walked over to it.

"You don't have a collar… no owner… huh?" I asked it, reaching down to pet it.

It immediately recoiled at my touch. I looked at my hand and made a mild huff of annoyance.

"Of course… too cold for you, huh?" I asked, though I didn't expect a response.

Suddenly, something blocked out the afternoon light, and when I looked up, I found the Railgun look-alike from before.

I had instantly recalled what Kamishirasawa-sensei had notified us upon coming back.

_"Misaka Mikoto... has no siblings on record. She's an only child, it seems._

She bent down, "'The cat seems uncomfortable with you, as well,' MISAKA notes as MISAKA tries to pet the cat."

Just as she said that, she reached down and pet the animal. The cat let out a strange noise of discomfort and ran off immediately.

"Hm? Oh, if you're actually Railgun, then that makes sense. An weak electromagnetic field that bothers animals, huh?" I replied.

"'MISAKA is not Railgun, but MISAKA does have similar abilities as her Onee-san…' MISAKA clarifies."

"You're her 'twin', then?" I asked.

"'MISAKA is not Onee-san's twin, rather, MISAKA is Onee-san's Imouto,' MISAKA elaborates vaguely."

Elaborates vaguely, huh? Either way, Misaka Mikoto shouldn't have an "Imouto". The person standing in front of me shouldn't exist.

"Out of curiousity, how many 'Imouto' does your Onee-san have?" I pondered.

"'There were originally 20000 of MISAKA's Sisters. I am designated as MISAKA 9964.' MISAKA explains."

20000 of them? And what exactly did she mean by originally?

I looked up at the summer heat and frowned. I wouldn't get warm, but I wasn't sure if Misaka 9964 or whatever I was supposed to call her would mind the heat or not.

I stood up, offering my hand down to her.

"Why don't you say we get out of this heat and continue this conversation elsewhere, Misaka-san?" I replied, "I'm Kurogori Tetsuo, by the way."

Talking to people unnecessarily was pointless, but after the conversation at lunch, and what she just told me, this Misaka-san had piqued my interest.

* * *

_Arakuyo Kenji's Side_

The hospital and my dorm were in the same direction if you were starting from the school, so I was walking the same route I used this morning.

I sighed, I wonder if Miyako-san would be mad at me for not saying anything after last night's… exchange. I wouldn't exactly call it an argument, but it wasn't a light-hearted conversation either. Ultimately, I guess it was odd. I hadn't even expected her to say something like that.

"_Can't you at least pretend you're going to miss me!"_

Why on earth did she say that? I hadn't even known her for a week, and she expects me to treat her like we're good friends?

But even as I say that, what did I fight so hard to protect? Why did I let myself get beaten up mercilessly for her sake if I didn't care about her? I shook my head. It wasn't like I had feelings for her. I'd do the same for just about anyone.

I boredly glanced down a random alleyway, but what I saw made me stop in my tracks.

Blood… a lot of blood.

And a body to go with it, but not just any body. It was the body of Railgun's "twin" I had met earlier today.

I ran up to her, but it was already too late. Those emotionless eyes stared straight at the sky, unblinking and glazed over.

"I should call a-" I began, pulling out my phone.

"I would stay out of this if I were you," a chilling voice from behind me replied.

I turned around, only to be met with a white haired, red eyed, lanky form, wearing a black shirt with white patterns on it and grey jeans. He sat there, looking at me with a bored expression on his face.

The Accelerator.

"I'm told not to let anyone else get involved, if at all possible," the Accelerator explained, "but if you try to call the cops, thing's will get messy."

His look told me he would be more than happy to let things get messy.

"Otherwise, I have no reason to fight a weak, beat-up wreck, so just walk back out of the alleyway, and forget you ever saw anything."

I couldn't possibly fight Accelerator. I knew that. It was impossible. And yet…

I clenched my fists and charged at him.

"Tch," he replied, lifting one finger, he flicked the air and multiplied the vectors of the force, sending me flying back into the wall.

I was already beat up, and I felt some of the stitching on my stomach wound open up. Blood seeped through my shirt, and Accelerator frowned.

"Geez, you were already in bad shape," he replied, picking up the dead Misaka and stomping his foot. The blood from her corpse flew up into the air in droplets and flowed neatly into the nearby dumpster, cleaning up any evidence.

"Stay here and bleed out, or maybe someone will find you before that…" he replied coldly, "At any rate, it'd be far worse for you if you followed after me."

He jumped off and disappeared somewhere, and I clenched my teeth.

Why did Accelerator murder Misaka Mikoto's look-alike? Even if this was something between Level 5s, I doubt that would have made it legal. Besides, it definitely sounded like Accelerator had been given orders.

I sighed. None of that mattered if I was going to sit here and bleed out in an alleyway.

I pulled out my cellphone to call an ambulance, but to my dismay, it was dead.

"Tch," I frowned, "This is bad, huh?"

"Don't worry!" a voice called from the distance.

A girl in a middle-school uniform smiled at me brightly and winked, "Your favorite magical girl is here!"

I looked at her blankly. She had long, blond hair and golden eyes, and was staring at me expectantly.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"Ack!" she frowned, "You… you don't recognize me!? Oh, I know, maybe if I transform!"

She ran around the corner behind the dumpster, and I watched as she comically threw her school uniform out from behind it. I could hear the sounds of her struggling with something, and when she finished, she emerged in a stereotypical witch outfit, complete with the pointy black hat.

"Oh! You're Renko-chan!" I replied, "Sorry, I didn't recognize you without the hat!"

She frowned, "So- so cruel!"

"Anyway, can you call an ambulance or something?" I asked, "I'm kind of in a bad spot here."

"Of course! That's why I'm here, after all, but who needs a silly ambulance when you can ride at mach speeds on a real witch's broom?" she grabbed my hand and pulled me to her feet before conjuring a broom out of thin air.

I had a bad feeling about this.

* * *

_Miyako Mizuki's Side_

"I'm never riding on a broom again!" Arakuyo-san frowned.

He was back in the hospital. Apparently his wound opened back up, and when I was informed, I rushed over as soon as I could. I didn't even change out of my work clothes.

Renko frowned, "But I got you here faster than a silly ambulance!"

"An ambulance would've been better for my health in the long run…" he replied.

"Oi," I yelled at him. He looked up, confused. Normally I was the kind of person to use "Ne" when trying to get someone's attention, but I was fuming.

He wouldn't even tell me what happened.

"Miyako-san?" he asked.

"Don't 'Miyako-san' me!" I yelled, "You were fine enough to walk to school earlier, and then your wound opens up for no reason!? And you've been sitting there with that concerned look on your face this whole time! How can you just tell me 'nothing happened'!"

He glared at me. It was the first time I saw a look so hostile from him at all, and the fact that it was directed at me made it all the more uncomfortable.

"I've known you for, what, a little less than four days! Don't act like you're a friend I have to share everything with!" he yelled back.

Renko-san, who was looking back and forth between the both of us, looked dejected. I guess she didn't want to see her new friends fight.

"But… I care about you," I mumbled.

"What was that?" He asked. He didn't say it with anger, he couldn't hear my weak voice.

"I said I care about you, alright!" I yelled back, "You saved my life, and I watched you get stabbed and beat up for my sake! Of course I'm going to be concerned about you, idiot!"

He sat there silently for a few minutes.

"Sorry," he apologized, "I know I can't save everyone… but let me be selfish, just a bit longer. I promise I won't become the kind of person who shoulders things alone, but this is different."

I sighed, holding out my pinky, "Geez, fine, but promise me you'll start viewing me as a person you can confide in."

He smiled weakly, wrapping his pinky around my own, "I promise."

* * *

**AN: Send in the Clones! Let's find out if Kenji, Tetsuo, and Kamishirasawa-sensei can figure out what to do about this new development. Who knows, maybe they'll actually be able to stop Accelerator.**

**By the way, this story is going to coincide with canon as much as possible, so SPOILERS: They can't**

**Still, if you think I still can't throw curveballs at you even having said that, then you've greatly underestimated my skill as a writer.**

**In fact, I'd like to call myself Academy City's Strongest Writer! (TOTALLY NOT AN ARROGANT STATEMENT!)**

**Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed the story so far. If you did, take a moment and leave a review to tell me what you think.**


	5. Chapter 5

_Kurogori Tetsuo's Side_

When I finally returned home, I was exhausted. I was the kind of person who came home and took an afternoon nap after school, then sat around all day in front of the tv without actually watching anything.

So, a day trying to coax anything out of the unusual Misaka-san was a pain.

Now, don't get me wrong, she was pretty open with her answers, though she pointedly avoided some in almost a sporadic pattern. For instance, she mentioned an 'experiment', but she didn't tell me what it was, but when I asked her if she was a clone…

"'_MISAKA is a clone' MISAKA confirms"_

_We were standing around in a cafe, though she insisted on not ordering anything. I myself had ordered coffee, and was sipping it as I talked._

"_Why are you so open with that kind of information?" I asked. Human cloning was not allowed. Thusly, whoever had cloned her in the first place could get into serious trouble if I notified the authorities._

"'_MISAKA has hypothesized that you will not interfere with the experiment, nor will you notify anyone of MISAKA's existence,' MISAKA explains."_

"_How do you know I won't tell someone," I asked, taking another sip of my coffee. I frowned. I prefered my beverages sweet, but even with the sugar and cream it came with, it wasn't to my taste._

_I glanced over at the packets of sugar placed on each table for the guests. I reached for one of the packets, ripped it open, and poured its contents into my cup._

"'_MISAKA has concluded that, while you are curious, you dislike pointless actions. You only brought MISAKA here to ask your own questions, Is MISAKA wrong?' Misaka asks smugly."_

_Despite her saying "smugly", she spoke with the same emotionless tone as before._

"_But even if you say that, you still have no way of knowing what I'll do? Isn't avoiding uncontrolled variables an important factor in any experiment?" I asked grabbing another few packets of sugar and adding their contents to my drink as I looked at her._

"'_This kind of experiment…'" she began, pausing, "'Can ignore uncontrolled variables. So long as certain conditions are met, the experiment will be a success' Misaka elaborates."_

"_So, you're fine with me having this information, and you really don't care what I do with it?" I wanted to clarify._

"'_Even if you informed the authorities, it would have a minuscule effect on the experiment, therefore, Misaka deduces that you won't inform the authorities, since it would be pointless to do so' concludes Misaka, counting the number of sugar packets you've added to your coffee."_

"_Well, I take it that's all the information I'll get out of you," I replied, stirring my coffee. There were exactly six sugar packets left discarded on the table, "You're rather interesting. After that impromptu interview, I feel compelled to at least order you something."_

"'_MISAKA does not feel that to be necessary, but if you insist, MISAKA would like some strawberry parfait' MISAKA states, accepting the offer."_

I sat down on the couch and sighed, closing my eyes. It was a bit too late to take a nap, but I wasn't sure I had much of a choice.

"So, how was your date?"

My eyes shot open. My older sister was bending over and looking at me with a mischevious grin on her face.

"What date?" I asked.

If you were expecting me to react like an embarrassed, blushing wreck, you obviously don't have a good grasp on my personality.

"I saw you with that girl with the brown hair. You were enjoying yourselves at a cafe, it seemed." she smiled.

"Don't misunderstand it, that was more like an interrogation, if anything. I was curious as to why there were multiple Misakas." I replied boredly.

"Oh, so her name's Misaka, that's cute!" my sister smiled.

"Didn't you hear what I said?" I asked, mildly irritated.

"Wait, isn't that the name of that Level 5, 'Railgun'?" my sister asked, "Oho, but she's in middle school. Don't tell me my own brother goes for younger women!"

I rolled over on the couch, facing the back, "You're misunderstanding the situation here, or more likely, you're just teasing me."

"Aw!" my sister pouted, "At least react when I tease you! It's no fun being your Onee-san sometimes!"

"We don't chose our family," I retorted, closing my eyes. Maybe a nap was a good idea.

I could still hear my sister talking to me, but I wasn't paying any attention to what she said. Soon, all my senses numbed, and I was sleeping peacefully.

* * *

_Kirisame Renko's Side_

"You cannot keep running off like this, Renko-chan! You make me worry for you! It's bad for my health you know?"

I pouted, but I had a feeling that wouldn't stop my roommate's rants.

Once Satomi Yui got going, there was absolutely no stopping her.

"Yui-saannn~!" I whined, "Relax, okay?"

"How can you tell me to relax! Maybe if you were an esper I'd be fine with you going out late and stuff, but you have no powers!" Yui complained, "Geez, whatever am I going to do with you… ah, by the way, I made some curry, there's leftovers in the fridge…"

I nodded, "Thanks a bunch, Yui-san!"

She frowned, "Don't think this means I'm not angry with you!"

"Sorry, sorry," I replied.

I couldn't tell her about magic. As much as I trusted her, I absolutely couldn't get her involved.

I sat down at the table with a heated up bowl of curry, and with a quick "Itadakimasu!" I began to dig in.

She sat down on the couch behind me and picked up the remote as though she was going to watch something, but instead wound up placing it back down.

I could hear her shift over as she turned towards me, "Sorry, it's just that I can't help but worry about you after you wound up missing for two days! I had seriously thought something terrible happened to you!"

"Relax, relax, I already told you, I was visiting some relatives." I lied, "I can't believe I forgot to tell you about it!"

"Yeah, I know, it's just…" she trailed off. I bent my head back so I was staring upside down at her.

"So what?" I asked.

"N-nothing! J-just eat your curry!" she yelled, "A-and that's bad for your neck!"

I laughed and looked forward, the curry had a nice red color to it because of the spices.

Red like blood… I realized.

Suddenly, my mind was brought back to Arakuyo-san lying against the wall of the dead-end alley.

I wanted to vomit.

Even if Arakuyo-san promised to let Arakuyo-san be selfish, wasn't he doing just the opposite? Wasn't he closing us off from whatever happened to protect us? Why couldn't he see that we were people who could also shoulder his burdens?

"R-Renko-san?" Yui asked, standing up. I watched as her long, voilet hair flowed out behind her as she ran to catch me.

Somehow, I had fallen out of the chair.

"R-Renko'san, are you okay?" she asked me.

"I'm fine, Yui-san," I lied.

Perhaps I was being hypocritical. For I also had burdens others couldn't shoulder.

* * *

_Kurogori Tetsuo's Side_

"Clones… huh," I replied. I don't know when I had fallen asleep exactly, but it was already 4:00.

Too damn early.

"That interesting woman," I muttered to myself, "I wonder… what kind of experiments would involve clones?"

I looked around. I had accidentally fallen asleep in my living room. Such an occurrence wasn't exactly rare, but I tried to avoid it as much as possible, if only to spare my ears the angry "Geez, Tetsuo, you have a bed, you know?" that would inevitably come from my sister the next morning.

Still, that was hours away. I closed my eyes once more. Letting sleep find me once more.

"Ne… Ne… Tetsuo…"

I opened my eyes to the sight of my sister, leaning over me and poking my face.

I pushed myself off the couch and glanced at the clock. 8:25. Damnit.

"Yeah yeah, I know," I scratched the back of my unkempt hair. I hadn't even taken it out of the ponytail it was tied back in after coming home yesterday, "I have a bed…"

"Well, I'd be worried about that, but it seems like your girlfriend's here," my sister smiled.

I grunted, "I told you, she's not my- wait, why is she here?"

"Find out yourself!" she handed me my school bag, shoved a piece of toast in my mouth, and shoved me out the door.

Sure enough, standing on the porch was Misaka-san, looking at me with her expressionless eyes.

"Hm?" I asked, tilting my head, "What are you doing here?"

"'MISAKA came to thank you for yesterday,' MISAKA answers honestly. 'MISAKA understands you did it to fulfill your own curiosities, but she's still grateful,' MISAKA adds as she looks at her feet."

"Hey, don't give my Sis the wrong idea about us, alright!" I replied, "I'll be running late if I stand around here anyway. Let's walk."

We set off towards my school, and I sighed.

"So, you seem emotionless, but it's pretty obvious you have emotions, right?" I asked. I probably sounded bored since I just woke up.

"'MISAKA has a dulled emotional response. Emotions were deemed unnecessary for the experiment.' MISAKA answers."

"Ah, I see," I replied. I frowned.

Dulled emotional response, huh?

I looked up at the sky, obscured by so many tall buildings.

"MISAKA wonders why you didn't ask this question yesterday,' MISAKA notes."

"Didn't cross my mind," I replied, "Besides, if I knew everything about you, my curiosity would run out, right?"

"'MISAKA hypothesizes you're doing this out of more than curiosity,' MISAKA makes a bold declaration."

I smiled. It wasn't a pleasant smile, and it wasn't even fueled by happiness or enjoyment. If anything, it was a sad smile, but even then, it wasn't because I was sad either.

I turned the corner, and we were in front of my school, "You're mistaken, sorry."

As I walked away from her, I didn't even bother looking back.

* * *

_Arakuyo Kenji's Side_

"Wow, so you made it after all. I wasn't sure if you'd be coming," Kamishirasawa-sensei smiled.

"Hm? What's with the serious face… well, I guess it's not important," Tetsuo replied.

"I'm sorry, Kamishirasawa-sensei, but can we talk about something?" I asked. I couldn't possibly focus on improving anything with things like this.

"Tch, at least respect the authority of your teachers, Kenji-san," Tetsuo replied.

"This concerns you too!" I snapped, "She was killed. The Misaka Mikoto look-alike was killed by Accelerator…"

"Oh my," Kamishirasawa-sensei's eyes widened, "That's unfortunate to hear."

"So that's what they were using them for…" Tetsuo sighed. Though it was more of a "man, what a pain" sigh than anything.

I clenched my teeth, "How the hell can you say that so calmly!"

"Tch, because, I know something you don't, idiot!" he shot back, "They're clones! 20000 clones created for some 'experiment' or whatever. I should've realized it was something like this."

"Clones!?" I asked, stunned, "Even so, why do you sound so _bored _about it!?"

"I rely on logic, not emotions, that is the difference between you and I," Tetsuo stated bluntly, "I can look at things objectively. What is a single clone worth? Didn't you learn anything about demand? The more scarce a resource is, the more valuable it is, but if you can make that resource readily available, then it's own value decreases. The scientists created 20000 clones at the snap of their fingers. So, what do you think their value is?"

I looked at Tetsuo in disgust. His words made me want to vomit. The bored look on his face, as though he were a teacher giving a lecture, made me want to punch him.

So, I did.

"Oh my!" Kamishirasawa-sensei looked on in surprise as Tetsuo went flying across the classroom.

"You bastard," he climbed to his feet, at least give me a warning before you do that? Well, I probably could've blocked that with my ability, but isn't it school policy not to use an Esper ability indoors? Even as I say that, your fist… you made it denser, didn't you?"

"Shut the hell up and take me seriously!" I yelled, charging at him.

Suddenly, however, Kamishirasawa-sensei placed her hand on my shoulder, and my entire body dropped like a rock.

"That's enough, Kenji-kun." she replied.

"But that bastard-" I began.

She frowned, "I don't agree with him either, but will beating him up get him to see your point of view?"

I glared daggers at Tetsuo, but he didn't even bother looking down on me. Instead, he walked over to the pile of papers Kamishirasawa-sensei got for him and took the last, unfinished stack.

"I'm starting my work. Don't bother me, alright?" he replied.

* * *

_Kurogori Tetsuo's side._

I found myself alone at lunch. The other two had gone somewhere or another, without bothering to wake me up to tell me they were leaving.

"Ah well, I guess it's my fault for falling asleep in the first place…" I sighed.

I frowned, "Geez, I was probably going to say something like 'Sorry for pissing you off earlier, I just wanted to get you to shut the hell up so I could work.' or something."

I silently wondered if I truly believed what I said was true.

I had never experienced someone's death before. My parents died when I was only two, so I didn't remember their deaths, and I never felt alone because I always had my sister.

I had no reference point to what the pain of loss felt like. I had no way of knowing what watching someone die felt like.

To be quite frank, I wasn't sure I wanted to.

My thoughts were interrupted by a phone call.

I flipped my phone open, "Who's this?"

"Hey, Tetsuo. It's me, your loving Onee-chan! I just realized there was something familiar about those goggles your girlfriend was wearing. I want to take a closer look at them. I know it's probably bad to encourage you from stealing your girlfriend's clothes, but let's stop at the goggles, alright?"

I glared at the phone, though it wasn't like she could actually see me.

"Geez, you want me to rob a stranger?" I asked, "You're cruel. Fine, fine, I'll get them for you. Just let me formulate a plan."

"Oh, come on, can't you just snatch them from her while you're getting all kissy-kissy!?" she asked. I could hear the cat-like grin on her face.

"What kind of person do you take me for?" I asked indignantly, "Besides, that plan's chance of sucess is 1 in 300,000…"

"So, you _admit _you were considering it!" She pointed out.

"Of course not, This call is over," I replied, ready to flip the phone closed.

"Wait, Tetsuo! I'm not done teasing you ye-"

The phone clicked closed and I shoved it back into my pocket.

I looked down at my finished work, "Well, if everything's done, I don't really have a reason to be here… Kamishirasawa-sensei isn't around either."

Of course, just as I said this, I began to hear the distant humming of the sensei herself growing closer to the door.

I looked out the window. I guess I had to resort to that.

I slid the window open, and just before the door to the classroom opened, I jumped.

* * *

Arakuyo Kenji's Side

"Damnit! Damnit! DAMNIT!" I yelled, glaring at the packet of chemistry-related questions, "I can't believe I'm stuck in here doing this while Mr. Lazy-ass-who-can't-even-grasp-the-value-of-human-life is out there napping!"

"My my, Kenji-kun!" Kamishirasawa-sensei smiled, "You should calm down. You could open your wounds again!"

"Actually, it's fine this time. The doctor went and gave me special stitches that wouldn't reopen even if I got into a nasty fight. I could still get other injuries, of course." I explained.

Kamishirasawa-sensei turned around and placed her hand under her chin, "What could Heaven Canceller be thinking, I wonder?"

"Who?" I asked.

Kamishirasawa-sensei turned around, "A-ah! It's not important!"

I frowned.

Heaven Canceller, huh? What kind of name was that?

I leaned back in my desk and sighed, "I bet that lazy-ass is lying on his couch taking a nap!"

* * *

_Kurogori Tetsuo's Side_

"Bad move, huh?" I asked. I was facing Misaka-san with a pair of military goggles dangling from my left hand.

In her right hand, there was a rifle.

"Look, I uh… I promise I'll give this back to you, alright?" I tried bargaining.

She fired a warning shot at my feet. Bargaining was not going to work.

I had picked a relatively simple strategy for getting the goggles, and phase one had gone off smoothly enough.

Phase two, however, had been utterly and thoroughly thrown out the window when Misaka-san pulled a rifle out of her school bag.

"Oi, oi, let's not be too hasty here" I replied calmly. It wasn't a facade. I was pretty calm about this, all things considered.

But being calm didn't mean I wanted to get shot.

"'Give them back' MISAKA demands as she extends her hand outwards."

She was waiting expectantly for me to place the desired item in her outstretched hands.

Needless to say, I had a different plan.

I whirled around and ducked behind a car, which was promptly riddled with bullets. I saw one of the dented bullets on the ground.

"Actual live-fire rounds…" I noted, "Oi, are you trying to kill me or something?"

Note to self: When it comes to Misaka clones, goggles are serious business.

I heard Misaka-san taking steps closer to reach me around the car.

Even if I used my ability as I was now, I wouldn't be able to block bullets.

I waited for Misaka-san to get close to the car, but even as she turned the corner, I still hadn't come up with a plan that had more than a 36% success rate.

Well, there was always acting sporadic. That normally confused opponents.

I groaned. I couldn't even believe what convoluted plan my brain came up with, but when I calculated it's success rate…

85%.

DAMNIT.

The second she came within my line of sight, I rushed her. We both toppled to the ground, me on top of her, and even her emotionless eyes seemed a bit wider.

I bent forwards and whispered into her ear, "Sorry, Misaka-chan, but I'm going to need to borrow these… I promise I'll return them."

I then quickly climbed to my feet and went running off back to my sister's house. I only glanced back once, but she was still lying there in a daze.

* * *

_Kirisame Renko's Side_

"Renko-san! You shouldn't worry Yui-san like that!"

I looked at the bespectacled girl chiding me. It was me and a group of my usual friends sitting together on the top of our school's roof, eating lunch together.

The black-haired girl with glasses was Ibuki Miki. She was two years my senior, being a third-year in high school.

Miki was a mild-mannered and somewhat shy girl who had trouble admitting her feelings. Like me, she didn't have any Epser abilities, but unlike me, she wasn't a mage.

"Yeah," another one of my friends, a red-haired, twin-tailed girl named Musujime Awaki, replied, "Yui has this huge crush on you, it's cruel to make her worry, you know!"

She was a bit difficult to get along with at first, but she wasn't an unpleasant person to be around. Mischievous and teasing when out of battle and nothing short of sadistic when she fought, she was probably the person I was most uneasy around.

Still, I definitely considered her a friend if nothing else.

"I-I-I do not!" Yui defended, her face growing uncontrollably red. When Yui wasn't blushing like the schoolgirl she was, she usually served as our group's voice of wisdom. I also felt closest to her, since she was my roommate. We do keep our secrets, though. She's never told me her ability, and I never told her about magic. I only know that she's supposed to be a Level 2.

"Guys, I'm fine, really," I replied, "Can't we just enjoy the weather, being out here and all?"

"We won't be able to enjoy it for long," Miki-san noted, "It's going to rain tonight."

"That's unfortunate, I have to work tonight…" Awaki-san frowned.

"Where do you work anyway?" Miki-san asked, taking sip of her juice.

Awaki teleported the juice box out of Miki's hands and began drinking it for herself, "That, Miki-chan… is a se-cret~!"

"I-i-i-i-i… indirect- " Miki-san stuttered, looking for words, "In-indirect… ki-kiss-"

"Oh my, Awaki-san, you shouldn't tease poor Miki like that!" Yui replied.

Awaki crumpled up the juice box and teleported it somewhere. _Hopefully _into an actual garbage can.

"Sorry, Sorry," Awaki-san replied, "I couldn't resist!"

I leaned back, letting the normal atmosphere of high school life calm me.

But even as I tried to relax, I couldn't help get the feeling that this kind of lax atmosphere wouldn't last at all.

I looked up sadly into the distant clouds, ones dark and filled with tonight's rain.

"Arakuyo-san, I hope you're okay…"

* * *

**AN: Hoped you enjoyed this chapter! This is pretty much the first major story arc, and unfortunately Mizuki, the vampire of which this fanfic get's its name, doesn't get much of a part here.**

**Don't worry, she'll get more action in the next arc. A lot more.**

**Allow me to clear up some timeline things with the actual Anime/Light Novels... this takes place the first week of summer break, and before Kamijou Touma loses his memories.**

**It's also before Misaka Mikoto meets the clones for the first time (the first clone Mikoto met was 9982) so, even though she keeps popping up by name, she won't actually appear in this arc. **

**Furthermore, I promised you guys a references list, but since most of my references are names anyway, I decided to give you instead a list of names and their meanings (unless there meanings spoil anything major)**

**Arakuyo Kenji - The main male lead. Honestly not much thought was put into his surname. His given name can mean respectful second son, but I hadn't intended to give him any older siblings.**

**Miyako Mizuki - The main female lead. Miyako means "beautiful night child", and Mizuki means "beautiful moon". Clearly you can see which of the two I put more though into naming.**

**Kurogori Tetsuo - Anyone who has knowledge of Japanese, and has already translated Kurogori will probably not find Tetsuo's abilities too surprising once I reveal them. Tetsuo itself can mean "wise hero". Ironic, since he's a "wise (lazy-)ass" instead.**

**Kamishirasawa-sensei - Kenji and Tetsuo's teacher. She's named after Kamishirasawa Keine from the Touhou Project series of games, who's also a school teacher. **

**Allistair O'Reilly - This crazy Irish Catholic shares his name first name with the upside-down bastard in the windowless building, and his last name with no one in particular. Also, his magic name, ****Interficere310, is latin for killer, followed by 310. 310 doesn't have any significance.**

**Kirisame Renko - Kirisame is the surname of Marisa Kirisame from Touhou. Her given name, Renko, comes from ANOTHER Touhou character, Usami Renko. In fact, a lot of names are going to come from Touhou. Just a heads up.**

**Satomi Yui - Once again, this was another of those names I kind of just pulled out of my ass. Then I looked it up on google, and found some... compromising Youtube videos by a user of the same name. Such misfortune!**

**Ibuki Miki - Ibuki is the surname of an Ibuki Suika from, you guessed it, Touhou. Miki's just a pretty generic Japanese name.**

**Oh, by the way, regarding my "Strongest Writer in Academy City" comment in the last Author's Note, it turns out that that's actually Kazuma Kamachi... you know, the actual author.**

**I think he sent a team of lawyers after me. I can hear them rustling around in the bushes.**

**-Sigh- In the position I'm in know, I'll probably have to retire the title of Strongest Writer in The Academy City.**

**But still...**

**I've decided to claim myself as the strongest in front of my fans, Damn it!**

**(Yeah, that last author's note was pretty much just the setup of a Brick Joke.)**

**Anyway, Review and stuff. I really appreciate things like that.**


	6. Chapter 6

_Arakuyo Kenji's Side_

Perhaps it was some sort of chance meeting, or perhaps it had been orchestrated by some unseen force. But once again, stuck at a crosswalk and waiting for the light to turn green, I glanced beside me and noticed another Misaka.

"_They're clones. 20000 of them created for some 'experiment'..."_

The clone I met the other morning was already killed, meaning this could've been one of the clones Tetsuo or Kamishirasawa-sensei saw.

Or an entirely different clone.

This one, like the one I met the other day, was wearing a Tokiwadai summer uniform, had emotionless eyes, and a pair military goggles strapped to her head.

I sighed.

Knowing what I knew now, seeing a clone was like seeing a ghost. Up against the #1 in Academy City, they were already dead. Even though I asked Miyako-san to let me shoulder this alone, what the hell could I do about it?

I looked up as the walk signal turned green, complete with the walking animation, and I stepped out into the street.

Suddenly, a hand pulled me back. I fell backwards to the ground, and looked up in time to see a speeding car rush past right where I had just been walking. I hadn't even heard it coming.

I looked back and saw the Misaka looking down at me.

"A-ah, thanks… you saved me," I noted, still dazed.

"'Are you okay?' MISAKA asks the stranger she just saved."

I climbed to my feet, "Yeah, I'm fine. I owe you one."

Yet even as I said that, would I even be able to save her life?

* * *

_Kurogori Tetsuo's Side_

"Ha, ha," I panted, leaning against the door.

Damn running. Of course someone who laid around all day wouldn't be athletic at all. So I was stuck panting, clinging to the pair of military goggles.

My sister walked over to me, smiling, "Ah, Tetsuo, you managed to get them after all!"

I frowned, "She tried to kill me."

Never passing an opportunity to tease me, my sister smiled, "Geez, she was that angry that you stole them? Or perhaps it was what you did to steal them? You shouldn't take advantage of a girl's heart, you know!"

"Shut it," I replied, "You have the goggles, what were you going to find out?"

My sister studied them for a split second before frowning, "It's as I suspected. Hold on, I'll be back in fifteen minutes."

Yet, instead of heading for the door, she instead retreated into her bedroom. I sighed and collapsed onto the couch.

I can't believe I had to do such a thing just to save my ass.

One of the reasons my sister openly teased me about such things is because I was lanky, unathletic, had a constant unkempt appearance about me, and often came across sounding bored. Basically, I was the last person you'd expect to see acting like that.

I frowned. Stupid 85% success rate.

Fifteen minutes apparently meant six minutes, forty three seconds, and a short phone call, for in exactly that time, my sister tossed the pair of goggles back at me. Unfortunately, I was facing the other direction, so I would up getting thwacked in the back of the head.

"Don't just say 'here you go~!' and toss something like this at me. These are heavy, you know." I turned around, glaring unamused at my sister.

"Geez, even though you're giving me such a harsh look, it sounds like you don't even care!" my sister whined, "You're no fun to tease, Tetsuo."

"So, what did you find out?" I asked, "I hope you didn't put me through all this trouble for no reason."

"It's nothing, it's nothing…." she smiled, "But, you know, if there's 20000 of them walking around out there, shouldn't you be able to tell the difference?"

I hadn't told my sister about the clones. She found that all out on her own, from a pair of goggles. She's the kind of person who could find out just about anything with only a single lead. She had plenty of connections in the right places.

Her information gathering abilities made her a dangerous person, even if she wasn't an Esper.

"Don't worry, your amazing and charming Onee-chan took care of that too!" she smiled.

"Hm?"

I looked down on the goggles, only to see pink heart painted on the left side of the visor.

"What the hell is this shit?"

* * *

_Arakuyo Kenji's Side_

Just how did things end up like this, I wonder?

"'Give them back,' MISAKA demands."

"'MISAKA cannot return MISAKA's goggles, because MISAKA's own goggles were stolen…' MISAKA explains apologetically."

While I was thanking the Misaka that saved me, something unexpected happened. Another Misaka, one missing her goggles, came out of nowhere and stole the first Misaka's goggles. Now the two were fighting over the single pair, and I was left to stand here and watch things play out.

"'MISAKA 9963 asserts that she will require her goggles before MISAKA 9964, therefore MISAKA demands you return her goggles,' MISAKA notes in anger."

Needs? If they were given numbers like that, they knew the order in which they would die?

Moreover, the way the spoke of it was calm, almost like Tetsuo.

"_What is a single clone worth?"_

"Tch," I clenched my teeth.

I guess the other two noticed, because they both turned to me. The one who stole the goggles cocked her head to the side.

"'Are you okay?' inquires MISAKA as MISAKA looks on with worry."

"'MISAKA wins,' MISAKA declares as MISAKA takes advantage of the distraction."

The other Misaka's eyes glinted, and she quickly snatched her goggles back and placed them on her head.

"'MISAKA concedes,' MISAKA sighs as she looks behind her."

"By the way," I asked the new Misaka, "What happened to your goggles?"

"'MISAKA's goggles were stolen by the blue-haired boy when MISAKA was… distracted…' MISAKA explains, slightly flustered."

"Blue-haired… Tetsuo…" I sighed. First, he disregards their own lives, then he steals from them!

Wait, did she just blush a little?

"'How did this blue-haired boy get the better of MISAKA' asks MISAKA as she narrows her eyes."

The other Misaka was also curious, it seemed.

"MISAKA had taken offensive action against the robbery, but then, when she least expected it, MISAKA was…' MISAKA tries to explain."

"'That wasn't an explanation,' MISAKA notes as MISAKA 9963 checks the memory files of MISAKA 9964 via the MISAKA Network."

I watched as her eyes gained a far-away look to them, as though she was distracted or spacing out, when she finished, she did something even more unexpected.

"Pfft!"

Did… did she just laugh?

"'Pfft' MISAKA pretends to laugh as she takes in this new information."

"'MISAKA just wasn't expecting it' MISAKA tries to defend as she hides her face in her hands."

What the hell could lazy-ass Tetsuo do to make Misaka so flustered, I wondered.

I looked at the sky. The first golden hues of sunset were starting to overtake the sky and the tall buildings of the city.

The MISAKA who had saved me also looked up to the sky. She didn't frown, but her next line was much more serious-sounding.

"'Please excuse MISAKA, MISAKA must arrive at the designated area by 21:00' MISAKA replies."

At this, she turned around and rushed off.

I narrowed my eyes.

"_Hmm… you still want to fight in your condition? Well, as a doctor, I advise against it… but there is something I can use so your wound won't open up so easily."_

I had come prepared.

"_My, my? Kenji-kun wants my number? Isn't that a bit direct? This wouldn't happen to have anything to do to with the Railgun look-alikes, would it?"_

It was now or never.

* * *

_Kurogori Tetsuo's Side_

"Geez, I've been running all over town looking for you, and this is where you were?" I asked, approaching the goggleless clone. The sun was going down, but I managed to find her standing at a park, looking down at a tabby cat, like she wanted to pet it.

She looked up, but before she could try to shoot me again, I held up her goggles, "Sorry about that, I told you I'd return them, didn't I?"

She looked down at her feet and snatched them back before giving them a quick inspection, stopping when she noticed the pink heart.

"'What is this?" MISAKA asks indignantly, turning away in embarrassment."

Damn, I couldn't just say it was a prank by my sister…

"A-ah, well, you see, if there's a bunch of you around, it would be problematic if I couldn't tell you apart, right?" I answered.

"'So, does Tetsuo-kun find MISAKA special?' MISAKA inquires, placing her hand over her chest."

"Tetsuo-kun"? What was with that all of a sudden?

"A-ah… well…" I trailed off.

"'Perhaps MISAKA was wrong about her hypothesis… Perhaps you find certain pointless activities worth-while.' MISAKA wonders out loud."

I briefly wondered if she meant painting the heart on the visor, or treating her kindly in general.

Suddenly, something behind me caught Misaka-san's attention. I turned around and noticed a crepe stand.

Misaka was eyeing the stand almost hungrily as she stood there.

I sighed, "Fine, fine… if you want crepes, just ask, don't just stare at it."

Misaka raised her hand, as if to protest, but was already on my way over to the stand.

* * *

_Arakuyo Kenji's Side_

I stood behind a storage crate. Watching the Misaka that had saved me standing, as though she were waiting for something.

She was, I reminded myself. She was waiting for Accelerator, and her own death.

I pulled out my cellphone.

"Kamishirasawa-sensei… think you can call Tetsuo-san now?" I asked.

Kamishirasawa-sensei sighed into the the phone on her side, "Even if I were to call him, what would I tell him? Do you honestly think there's anything either of us can say to make him fight?"

"Heh, probably not," I replied, "He's nothing but a lazy ass, after all."

Kamishirasawa-sensei's tone turned serious, "I am still your teacher, Kenji-kun. Don't be reckless. You better come in tomorrow for supplementary classes."

The message behind the message was "don't die", and I heard it loud and clear.

"Right," I nodded.

I checked the time. 20:59…

Then he appeared.

The Accelerator.

He had appeared on the roof of one of the warehouses, and now stood looking down at Misaka. I pressed myself closer to the wall to stay hidden.

"Ah, so you're already here?" he laughed, looking down at the Misaka, "Guess I'll be playing with you tonight, then?"

"Yes, MISAKA's serial is #9963. Would you like to use to passcode to confirm MISAKA's-"

"Heh, you're like all the rest of them! Can't you check that stupid network of yours? Since when do I give a shit about that?" Accelerator asked, crossing his arms.

"'The current time is 20:29;14… Experiment #9963 will begin in 46 seconds.' MISAKA states."

"Don't sound so damn calm about your own death, shit-head!" Accelerator laughed. If you have any last wishes, better get them over with before I tear you to shreds!"

"'MISAKA only wishes to play her role in the experiment,' MISAKA responds."

"Tch, don't those damn scientists know it's no fun if you don't scream!" Accelerator replied, a look of insanity painted on his face.

"'Experiment #9963 will begin in five seconds…' MISAKA informs."

"Heh, I'm in an exceptionally good mood tonight! Let's have some fun! I'll give you a gloriously painful death!" Accelerator grinned.

He jumped down from the warehouse roof, and in that moment, I knew it was time to act.

I jumped out in front of Misaka, standing between her and the Strongest in Academy City.

"W-what!?" Accelerator, "You again!? You got some kind of death wish or something?"

"'What are you doing here?' MISAKA asks."

"Heh," I smiled, "Didn't I tell you before? I owe you one."

I turned my attention to Accelerator, giving him the best death glare I could muster in a situation like this.

"I'll be your opponent! Don't think I'll go down as easily as last time!" I called.

He took a few steps closer, "Fine by me, try not to die too quickly!"

When he took another step forward, he was immediately brought to his feet. When he hit the ground, the force was strong enough to crack the concrete around him. It didn't hurt him, but it sure as hell immobilized him.

"W-what the hell is this!?" He asked, looking up at me.

I smiled, "Vector Change. I did my research. Your ability blocks all incoming attacks by reflecting them, right? My ability doesn't have a direction. It's an instantaneous change in density."

"Oh, shit, you got me. I can't believe a shit-head mid-level ability would beat me so easily!" he replied sarcastically, then yelled, "You fucking dumbass! Did you really think I've never fought opponents with instant attacks?"

He climbed to his feet, and then charged at me like normal. My eyes widened.

"Let me tell you something, you gusty bastard! My reflection ability is strong enough to reflect things like the force of gravity! I have to make sure I _let _gravity affect my body, or else I'd go flying off somewhere!"

He flung his fists forward, which was a problem for me, because they were still dense. The impact would've sent me flying under _normal _circumstances, but because the force vectors were amplified, I was flung through two whole warehouses before I stopped.

I couldn't breathe, the air had been way more than knocked out of me. If I had been hit directly, I would've been dead.

Luckily, I wasn't hit directly.

"Damn…" I replied, dragging myself to my feet, "If I hadn't created super-dense air around me at the last second, that would've broken more than a few bones."

Air's a good shield, because even if it's dense, it can be compressed, absorbing shocks better than actual body armor.

Of course, creating a temporary air armor was one thing. The calculations to keep it up indefinitely would be way too complex for only a borderline genius like me.

"Hehehe! Huh? You're still alive? Alright, you caught my attention!" Accelerator laughed.

He charged at me again, pushing off the ground with an amplified force, and appeared before me.

Luckily, he had knocked me out of my own manipulation radius. His body was back to normal.

Oh yeah. I should probably mention that things the things I manipulate the density of don't stay that way if they leave my the effective range of my powers. Theoretically, anything within a 50 meter radius of my body was manipulatable, but if I couldn't see it, and didn't know it's exact position, it was infinitely more likely I'd miss.

Furthermore, it was incredibly hard for me to manipulate organic materials. The more irregular the shape, the harder it would be to manipulate. I could manipulate the density of a body, but doing so required a lot of time and observation for my calculations. I had done them while Accelerator was taunting Misaka.

Also, since bodies were so hard to manipulate, it essentially halves my manipulation radius. Anyone outside of 25 meters was beyond my reach to manipulate.

He punched me, but I was able to cross-block the hit with my arms. I had manipulated the density of my bones so they wouldn't break, but the impact would definitely leave quite the nasty bruise later.

Accelerator frowned, "Density Shift… there's currently two people in Academy City with an ability like that… and they're both Level 3s… SO WHO THE HELL ARE YOU!?"

He picked me up and threw me against the wall of the warehouse. I cringed as the wall behind me cracked. I didn't have enough of a warning, so I slammed hard against the wall with the full force of the blow.

"Heh, one of those is me," I replied, "I'm a level 3. Does it piss you off? That I lasted this long against you?"

"Not at all," Accelerator grinned maniacally, "You've caught my attention, Level 3! Show me how much you can squirm before I end you're life!"

* * *

_Kurogori Tetsuo's Side_

I was sitting on the bench next to Misaka-san, watching the clone next to me eat the crepe.

I glanced up at the visor she was wearing. The pink heart painted on the side was constantly mocking me.

I frowned, which Misaka-san noticed.

"'Hm? Are you unhappy?' MISAKA asks out of concern."

"No. Just thinking about some things, that's all…" I replied.

"'They wouldn't have anything to do with MISAKA, would they?' MISAKA asks, worried."

"Well," I began. Suddenly, however, her eyes grew wide and she froze in place. For a few moments she sat like that, not even taking a bite of her crepe.

Then, she turned to me.

"'MISAKA 9963 has just reported that someone is interfering with the experiment. He appears to be the boy she was with earlier. He seemed to know you.' MISAKA recalls."

"Kenji-san… so, he got involved after all." I sighed, "Sorry to cut our date short, but I'm going to have to save his ass. Where is he?"

"'Experiment #9963 was to take place at the abandoned warehouses near the 7th District' MISAKA explains."

"Thanks!" I turned to leave, then paled.

Shit, did I really just call it a-

"'D-date…' Misaka whispers in shock."

Damnit.

* * *

_Arakuyo Kenji's Side_

"Go ahead and shit your pants now, asshole!" Accelerator taunted, punching me in the face.

Shit. Even though I had decent defense, mine wasn't perfect. Furthermore, I couldn't lay a finger on Accelerator.

Any battle where you can't damage your opponent is going to be a losing one, no matter how strong you are.

"Come on, damnit!" I yelled, "There's got to be a way to hit this asshole!"

I whirled around to kick him, but he backstepped, and my leg stopped just short of hitting him.

And then it didn't.

Like a magnet, I felt my leg being drawn in and connect with his side.

He looked almost as shocked as me.

"W-what the fuck was THAT!?" Accelerator's eyes were pinholes in white corneas, shaking in rage.

I looked down at my leg. I hadn't made it more dense… so what was that? If I could hit him after all, maybe I could win.

"SHITHEAD!" Accelerator yelled.

I guess one hit was all it took to piss him off. I felt a strange sense of pride, and wondered if this was what a cat feels when it scratches a dog's face right before it's eaten.

Accelerator was plain-out going psychotic. He threw heavy storage containers at me, punched me through walls. Picked me up and threw me at the ground. Anything he could to inflict pain and do damage.

I found myself lying on the ground on the verge of consciousness, the back of my head getting constantly slammed further and further into the ground by Accelerator's foot.

Then I felt a strange sensation of something pop in my head, and a warm feeling from inside my mind. Maybe this was a coping mechanism for those on the verge of death?

However, it didn't feel like I was dying. Instead, I felt an incredible sense of enlightenment wash over me. Sudden clarity burst forth from inside my head, and I opened my eyes.

In the split second when Accelerator lifted his foot off the ground to bring it back down on my head, I manipulated my own body's density to decrease immensely. Lighter than air, I readjusted so I still had the density of my leg muscles. I pushed off the ground and shot out from under Accelerator's foot.

I dug my heel into the ground to slow me down and spun on it instantly.

"I… I didn't realize I could do these kind of calculations!" I smiled.

"HOW THE HELL ARE YOU A LEVEL 3!" Accelerator yelled in disbelief.

"Heh, you're still worried about numbers! Then worry about this!" I held out my arm and increased its density to an extent I never thought possible. Dust particles in the air swirled around it, their path warped by its own mini gravity.

"Right now, my fist is 100 times more dense than normal human muscle," I bragged, "I'll smash through that reflection of yours!"

I kicked off the ground, reeling my fist back and charging at Accelerator.

This was it, I've won!

I rammed my fist into my opponent. I had broken through!

"Heh," Accelerator laughed, "Who ever said it was possible to break through my reflection?"

Suddenly, the force of the blow sent me flying backwards. Making my feet more dense than my body, I was shifted upright in the air, and managed to land on my feet.

Still…

"Tch, that was a close one. If I hadn't increased the density of my whole body in that split second, my arm would've gotten blown clean off," I sighed.

Still, he managed to break my arm, even with my countermeasures.

"You've pulled a lot of surprises out of your ass," Accelerator taunted, "but I'm done playing with you. Just die quietly already, shit-hole!"

Just as suddenly as it had appeared. The clarity in my mind vanished, and I found myself no longer capable of calculating as quickly.

Accelerator charged forwards, his hand open and fingers curled, like he was going to rip my head off.

I couldn't dodge. I was so beaten and tired, I didn't even think I could take a step sideways to even try to dodge.

I closed my eyes, waiting for my own death.

It never came.

Instead, I could hear the distinct sound of ice cracking.

I looked up. There was a thick wall of ice between me and Accelerator, and standing just behind me and to my left was Kurogori Tetsuo.

"Ha, ha," he panted, as though he had run here, "made it."

"Tch," Accelerator turned around. Behind him was Misaka 9963. She was on the other side of the ice wall.

He was going to let us escape and finish the experiment, it seemed.

I started to stumble, but Tetsuo grabbed me and supported me with his shoulder. I wanted to protest, I wanted to ask him why he wouldn't save Misaka 9963 too, but I didn't have the strength.

I turned around, but instead of Misaka standing there, it was a mass of blood and mangled organs.

Accelerator took the anger he had fighting me out on her, it seemed.

And at the sight of that distorted image through the ice, I leaned over and puked before passing out.

* * *

**AN: Kenji fails to save Misaka 9963, but his life is spared thanks to Tetsuo's timely rescue. **

**Also, we see a look at Tetsuo's power. Ice manipulation?**

**(Of course, I know the answer, you don't)**

**And what the hell is going on with Kenji? Why was he able to do all those calculations all of a sudden. Surely it was a one-off thing that won't become an important plot point later, right?**

**Right?**

**(Is that foreshadowing I smell?)**

**Also, it seems that Misaka 9964 is falling for Tetsuo. Or is Tetsuo falling for Misaka 9964? Or both?**

**Wait, 996****_4_****, doesn't that mean...?**

**OH SHI-**

**[Notice, this Author's Note was cut due to excessive foreshadowing. We apologize for the inconvenience. Thank you for your understanding!]**


	7. Chapter 7

_Kurogori Tetsuo's Side_

I woke up on the couch again.

That's right, I had to step in and save Kenji-san's ass.

"The ungrateful son of a bitch…" I replied as I recalled the events of the other night. I had stuck around until they patched up his arm, and he managed to wake up.

Only to punch me in the face with his other arm.

"_You dumbass!" Kenji-san yelled, He had bandages wrapped around his head, and one over his left eye, but his right eye was sending me a death glare._

"_Are you mad I didn't save the clone." I asked calmly, "It would've been impossible. I can't fight Accelerator. I've calculated all the possible outcomes of that fight. Even with me at full power and him weakened, I wouldn't be able to stop him. What would be the point of saving the clone then? He would've hunted us down until the clone was dead. Besides…"_

_I trailed off. Perhaps that last point would've been better to leave out._

"_Besides what!?" he asked, still glaring at me._

_I sighed, "I'm physically pretty weak. I can't carry two people at once. Someone would've had to be sacrificed."_

"_So, why the hell did you save me!?" I asked._

"_Because, there's still 10,037 clones running around out there, isn't there?" I replied, "Even if she's gone, there's still more, right?"_

"_Y-you…" he yelled. I could tell he wanted to punch me again, but he was still in the hospital bed and I had already headed towards the door._

"_Be grateful I saved your life, won't you?" I replied casually, "Later."_

_I heard him mutter something, but I was already out of earshot. _

I climbed off of the couch and sighed. I was thirsty. I headed over to the fridge and opened it, reaching for a soda can…

And that's when I noticed them.

"Sis," I called across the house, "SIS!"

Exactly 25 seconds later, she poked her head out of the bathroom, her blue hair still wet, "Hm?"

I held up a beer can, "What the hell is this bullshit?"

"A-a-ah!" her eyes widened, "N-now, hold on, let's not jump to conclusions here."

"What the hell, sis?" I asked, "You better not be lapsing."

"No! No!" she defended, "Nothing like that! I'll explain once I'm out! Please wait!"

"Tch," I scoffed, looking down at the other beer cans in the fridge. Without responding, I grabbed a can of soda, slipped on my shoes, and headed out the door.

* * *

_Arakuyo Kenji's Side_

"Geez," I replied, walking down the streets, my arm in a sling and my arms covered in bandages, "I can't believe, even after all this, that Kamishirasawa-sensei _still _won't let me off the hook!"

I sighed, getting stuck at another crosswalk.

Still, I had some questions for her.

"What the hell was that last night," I looked down at my hands, "My limit for increasing density is ten times an object's original density. That was… multiplied by ten? And what was with being able to do all those calculations in an instant?"

The crosswalk had turned green, so I headed on my path once again.

"That power…" I recalled, "Is that what being a Level 5 feels like?"

I looked up. Another red walk signal.

I sighed, looking towards the sky. I felt bad, leaving Miyako-san alone for all this time. I had selfishly requested that she stay out of this because she has no powers, but she's probably upset at me for being in the hospital for so long.

The light turned green. I continued onwards.

Then a thought struck me.

"Ah," I realized, "With me gone this whole time, she's probably gallivanting around my dorm with no clothes on! Shameless woman!"

* * *

Miyako Mizuki's Side

"A-a-achoo!"

I looked around, wiping my nose. The dorm had been as empty as ever since Arakuyo was hospitalized. It seems that he couldn't seem to stay out of trouble.

"Shit, could I be catching a cold because I've been walking around naked this whole time!?"

But no, it was summer, and the air conditioning wasn't on at the moment. That wasn't even a possibility.

"Ah, it's probably someone talking about me!" I concluded, carrying on with my morning happily.

* * *

_Arakuyo Kenji's Side_

"ANOTHER GODDAMN RED WALK SIGNAL!" I yelled. I had just about reached my limit with these.

Looking to my left, I noticed the path was clear, and a green walk signal lit the way.

"Well, a short detour wouldn't hurt!" I replied, heading left.

I sighed. Even in my injured state, I enjoyed the freedom of being able to walk without traffic signals stopping you.

"Green lights, you have become my close comrades!" I spoke aloud, closing my eyes and enjoying the-

THWACK!

I soon found myself on the floor.

"My, my! I'm so sorry, that was rather careless of me, wasn't it!" the voice of a woman replied.

I looked up, only to come face to face with a woman in her mid 20s, wearing a pair of black skinny jeans and a white, long-sleeved blouse. However, more strikingly were her icy-blue hair and matching eyes.

I stood up, "You wouldn't happen to be Tetsuo-san's older sister, would you?" I asked.

"Oh! So you're friends with Tetsuo!" she smiled.

I frowned and looked down, to which she also frowned and asked, "What's wrong?"

* * *

_Kurugori Tetsuo's Side_

"Ah, so this is how it's going to be, then?" I looked down at the clone I had gotten to know over the past few days. The pink heart sat, glistening in the early morning light.

Despite my distaste for the exact symbol, it did help differentiate her from any others that might be around, though I had only seemed to come into contact with this one.

She looked up at me, before turning to the ground she was poking earlier. She placed a hand over it, like she was trying to hide something, but I could already tell what it was from the parts poking out from underneath her fingers.

It was a heart, drawn with a thick, fuzzy black line, like iron filings collected from the sand.

"Ah, so that's how it is…" I replied.

"'That's how what is?' MISAKA asks, standing up quickly."

"Look at you, sitting here drawing hearts…" I replied, "I thought you were supposed to have a dulled emotional response?"

"'MISAKA does. MISAKA answers bluntly, 'But…' MISAKA hesitates.. 'dulled doesn't mean nonexistent. Right, Tetsuo-kun?' MISAKA finishes, looking to the ground."

I looked up, "Heh, I guess you're right. Say, you busy?"

"MISAKA isn't busy right now,' MISAKA notes."

"Alright. Let's take a walk."

* * *

_Arakuyo Kenji's Side_

I sat in a cafe with Tetsuo's sister. Now, I didn't call Tetsuo-san "Kurogori-san", but to avoid confusion, I still asked her for her given name.

"Ah, call me Akane-san, then," she replied, "So, what did you want to ask me?"

I looked down, "Is… is Tetsuo a good person?"

"My, my," she replied, putting her hand in front of her mouth, "Isn't that a bit rude to ask someone's Onee-san?"

"S-sorry, I just-" I began.

"It's fine," she replied, "I understand where you're coming from. Tetsuo's lazy, self-centered, and arrogant. But he's not inherently a bad person. He's a person who goes out of his way to help people, even if he pretends to dislike it."

"Would he ever… leave someone to die?" I asked.

"My, my, that serious tone of yours…" She frowned, narrowing her eyes, "You've got caught up in something a bit over your heads, haven't you?"

* * *

_Kurogori Tetsuo's Side_

"Say," I asked. we hadn't walked far, maybe a block or two, when I broke the silence between me and Misaka-san, "If given the choice, what would you pick? The choice that's logical, or the choice that's irrational?"

Misaka-san took a bit longer to answer that question than I thought she would, and when she finally did…

"'MISAKA used to think that she would always choose the logical choice.' MISAKA answers honestly."

"Used to?" I asked.

Misaka looked down and clasped her hands over her chest.

"MISAKA… MISAKA now thinks she'd probably do something irrational, if it meant making those she cared about happy.' MISAKA speaks from her heart."

I looked up to the sky, "Is that right?"

* * *

_Arakuyo Kenji's Side_

"Tetsuo's a logical person," Akane-san answered, "He likes to look at probabilities and outcomes. He's the kind of person who'd attach a value to a person's life."

I frowned.

"But… it's not his fault…" she spoke sadly.

"W-what do you mean?" I asked.

"You notice how he always sounds so bored and uncaring? That's because he is. His lack of motivation, his analytical personality, his cold nature towards others… it's not because he wants to be like that," she answered, taking a sip of the coffee she ordered.

I put on one of my patented confused looks, and she got the hint to continue.

"He has a blunted affect," she answered.

"B-blunted effect?" I echoed.

She shook her head, "Blunted _a-_ffect… it's a term in psychology used to refer to a lack of or diminished emotional responses to stimuli… basically, he doesn't experience emotions as strongly as others. In fact, sometimes he doesn't experience them at all. If it ever looked like he's half-assed some sort of emotion, he was probably faking it. If he's ever yelled at you with a bored look on his face, chances are he wasn't angry to begin with."

I looked down. That was crazy. This whole time I was thinking with only my emotions, and treating Tetsuo like a heartless bastard. To a logical person with dampened emotions, I would've sounded completely irrational.

"I still think you should be friends with him," Akane-san replied, smiling, "He doesn't have any friends because of his nature. He finds them to be too much trouble to make. They expect him to laugh when they laugh, to smile when they smile, and when he doesn't, they start pushing him away. I think having a friend who can understand him would be good for him. Oh… oh my… listen to me! Going on about things like that… asking you to become his friend out of the blue…"

"I will," I replied bluntly.

"Hm?" she asked, cocking her head to the side.

"I won't promise to become his friend… but… but I'll at least try to understand him a bit more." I replied.

She smiled, "Ah, thank you very much, Kenji-san! Ah, oh, but I must be going! It was nice talking to you. Maybe I'll see you around sometime!"

I waved as she rushed out the door. As soon as she was out of sight, I sighed and stared down into the unfinished coffee cup left on the table.

"Blunted affect, huh?" I sighed, "Geez, what kind of-"

"Kenji-kun!"

I looked up, and staring back down at me with closed eyes and a sadistic smile was Kamishirasawa-sensei.

"A-ah, s-s-sensei!"

"Skipping my class to talk to older women, are we? Geez, Kenji-kun, I didn't think you were so shameless. Well, if it's an older woman that will do…"

She leaned in and whispered into my ear something that sent icy shivers down my spine, "I'll show you the true meaning of fear, got it!"

* * *

_Kurogori Tetsuo's Side_

"Doing something irrational… to make others happy, huh?" I asked.

"'Yes… MISAKA was taught a lot of things by Tetsuo-kun… you… you started talking to MISAKA out of curiosity, but even when MISAKA answered all your questions, you still went out of your way to talk to MISAKA… You bought MISAKA food multiple times, even though MISAKA hadn't accepted either offer right away... You caused MISAKA a lot of trouble when you stole her goggles… but you returned them like you promised, and you even painted this symbol on them, so you would know that I was the right MISAKA… MISAKA thinks that all of these things are irrational, and yet you did them…' MISAKA points out."

I was going to say something in protest, but what she said actually made a lot of sense. Granted, the goggles thing was my sister but…

To be fair, it was just paint on metal. It could be scratched off easily. I realized that even back before I handed them back to her… yet I did nothing about it.

"'MISAKA then realized you did them for MISAKA's sake… Even if you didn't realize at the time, these last few days, Tetsuo-kun has been doing irrational things for MISAKA's sake,' MISAKA concludes, attempting to smile."

She tilted her head to the side and pushed up the corners of her mouth, but it ended up looking forced. She stopped and looked down.

I sighed, "Geez… saying something like that… well, might as well enjoy the rest of the day, huh?"

"Tetsuo-kun is going to do more irrational things for MISAKA, aren't you?' MISAKA asks."

"Something like that," I replied, scratching the back of my head.

"'Then it's a date," MISAKA declares as she hooks arms with you."

"Oi, I didn't say it was a date, did I?" I asked.

But even then, I guess it was, wasn't it?

* * *

_Arakuyo Kenji's Side_

"Hmm?" Kamishirasawa-sensei cocked her head to the side, "You say you were suddenly able to perform complex calculations and surpass your power's current limitations?"

I nodded, "I don't know what happened. I was getting my head smashed into the ground one second, and the next, I suddenly knew everything I needed to escape. I wasn't able to turn the tide of battle."

"That is perplexing…" she frowned, "I may have to do more research into this, but perhaps it was just a temporary side effect of getting kicked in the head."

I sighed, "That could be… At any rate, my abilities at that time were strong enough to make someone like Accelerator ask if I was really only a Level 3."

"What you tasted there were things you will definitely be capable of once you achieve Level 5." Kamishirasawa-sensei replied, "Hopefully it gave you something to work for."

"What makes you think I didn't already have something to work for?" I asked.

Kamishirasawa-sensei smiled, "Don't tell me it was something cliche like 'protecting everyone'. Listen, Kenji-kun. this world is large. Protecting everyone isn't possible… but if you focus on protecting your friends above all else, and encourage others to do the same, then isn't that a more reachable goal?"

She turned around and headed for the door, "Get back to work, Kenji-kun… I expect that entire packet done by the time I return! Oh, by the way, I won't tell you what time I'm coming back~!"

She walked off and I sighed, "You're so cruel, Kamishirasawa-sensei!"

* * *

_Kurogori Tetsuo's Side_

"'Does Tetsuo-kun like video games?' MISAKA inquires."

Somehow, we had managed to find ourselves in the one of the shopping districts, and were currently standing outside an old arcade.

I grinned, "Of course. After all, you can accomplish so much by only moving your thumbs."

Misaka-san, without responding, headed inside.

I sighed and followed her in.

However, instead of finding her in front of a game she wanted to play, she stopped in her tracks in front of a claw machine.

"Hm? What are you looking at?" I asked. I followed her gaze to a plush sitting near the top of the pile. It wasn't anything too large or noticeable, just a small, round, cream-colored plush with a pair of bored eyes on it.

It gave me the impression that, thought it was near the top of the pile, it wasn't something anyone actually went for.

"You want that one, right?" I asked.

She nodded lightly, and I immediately set to work.

Width of container, 112.5 cm… Height of container, 185 cm… depth of container, 105 cm… location of plush… exactly 72.75 cm from top of container and 49.3 cm from front of container... plush, approximately 10 cm in diameter. largest gap between claw fingers… 5.2 cm…

I put the coins in and set to work.

I worked quickly but skillfully, moving the claw arm into position directly above the plush. I brought the claw down immediately and let the machine do the rest of it's work.

However, it stopped just shy of the middle of the plush. It grabbed onto the plush and drew it up, but the claws were slowly pushing the plush out due to its spherical shape.

Just when it looked like the plush would fall, a ring of ice enraveled the top of the plush. The ice caught the claws and the plush, and the prize made it safely to the drop-off box.

Misaka bent down to grab it, but when she picked it up, the ice was nowhere in sight.

Irrational things to make someone happy, huh? Even though it seemed like a lot of work, maybe I could try being like that for a bit.

* * *

_Arakuyo Kenji's Side_

"Tadaima!" I called, entering my house for the first time in a few days, "Sorry, this and that happened and-"

"A-ah, Arakuyo-san! Welcome back!"

Miyako-san stood there, sitting on my couch, completely naked.

"WOULD IT KILL YOU TO PUT SOME DAMN CLOTHES ON!" I yelled. As she walked off to get dressed, I sighed, "Shameless woman."

"Ah, Arakuyo-san, what happened to your arm?" she asked. There was no way she got dressed that fast, so I didn't bother turning around.

"I got into a fight with the Strongest Esper in Academy City," I replied honestly.

"Did you get yourself involved with something way over your head?" she asked me, "You know, I might not have magic or an Esper ability, but that doesn't mean I'm not helpful."

"It's fine," I replied, "I'm done getting involved."

It's not like I wanted this to end so inconclusively, but I was only able to fight last night at all because I was able to follow Misaka. Unfortunately, going around the city specifically looking for clones would be useless.

Besides, even if I were to do that, what point would there be? I'd just get my ass kicked again.

"I'm getting tired of losing!" I complained, "When you showed up, it seemed a lot like a situation right out of an anime, but what kind of protagonist loses all the time?"

"You know," Miyako began, "Life doesn't work like that, does it? There's not just one protagonist and a bunch of side characters, you know? To everyone, they're the protagonist of their own story. Even if they lose all the time, they're still fighting for something, right? Besides, what kind of story is it if the protagonist never struggles? Wouldn't that be boring to watch?"

I sighed and looked down, "I guess you're right."

I heard her walk off to get dressed, leaving me sitting alone in the main room of my dorm.

"_Protecting everyone isn't possible… but if you focus on protecting your friends above all else, and encourage others to do the same, then isn't that a more reachable goal?"_

Protecting my friends, huh? This whole time I was off trying to stop Accelerator, I had been completely ignoring Miyako-san.

"Maybe it's time I stop trying to be a hero and start actually being a friend…"

* * *

_Kurogori Tetsuo's Side_

The sun was going down, casting a warm golden light upon the both sky and the city. Misaka-san was still walking along beside me, holding the plush I had won for her earlier between her crossed arms.

She looked to the sky, and then turned to me.

"'MISAKA had a fun today,' MISAKA states honestly."

I smiled, "Yeah, it was pleasant, wasn't it?"

"'MISAKA… thinks she wants to try doing one last irrational thing...' MISAKA adds as she turns around."

"Hm? I asked, "What do you mean?"

"'Earlier, MISAKA stated that she would do irrational things if they made others happy. But MISAKA also likes feeling happy… so MISAKA thinks that she would also do irrational things for her own happiness…' MISAKA clarifies, "So, if there was something MISAKA wanted to do… and it would also make someone else happy… then wouldn't it make sense to do it, even if it was irrational?' MISAKA asks."

"I guess," I replied. In truth, I didn't attach much value to emotions, so doing something for my own happiness wasn't anything I had considered before.

"'Then… MISAKA will…' MISAKA hesitates, 'MISAKA will do that irrational thing.' MISAKA declares with conviction."

Unexpectedly, Misaka-san brought herself forwards and planted her lips on my cheek.

I didn't experience emotions the same way as others. Happiness was a small, slightly pleasant tingle in the back of my mind, sadness was a small, annoying pang that could be ignored by sleeping it off, anger was mild irritation that I didn't really dwell on.

I wasn't about to delude myself into thinking this was love. This was someone I barely knew, who I had only met with for two or three days tops. I wasn't the kind of overly sentimental sap who'd find himself heads-over-heels for a girl in that short amount of time.

Yet, this feeling… it was happiness, wasn't it? I rarely got to experience it this strongly.

She pulled back and looked down, "'MISAKA… MISAKA is glad she was able to do that irrational thing…' MISAKA speaks from her heart."

She held out the plush I had gotten for her and placed it against my chest, as if telling me to take it. Without responding, I grabbed it and looked at her.

"Why are you giving this back?" I asked.

"'MISAKA is glad that she was able to spend one last day with Tetsuo-kun… MISAKA is happy that she was able to enjoy so many irrational things, but MISAKA wasn't here this whole time for fun. MISAKA was scoping out the surrounding areas in preparation for the experiment. MISAKA has to go, but she hopes Tetsuo-kun will always remember her' MISAKA informs."

I froze.

That's right. These clones were made to be killed.

"'Goodbye, Tetsuo-kun.' MISAKA finishes, 'MISAKA thinks… she would've liked to enjoy this kind of irrational, fun atmosphere a bit longer.' MISAKA adds."

I watched Misaka-san run off, and I sighed. The sun was casting it's last rays, and the sky was beginning to turn a dark blue, heralding the night.

I turned around and headed home, but even then, I was overcome with an unusually strong sense of sadness.

"Geez," I said to myself, lightly squeezing the plush she handed me, "You could've told me sooner… that you're death sentence was today."

* * *

_Misaka 9964's Side_

"'The experiment will begin in approximately 30 seconds.' MISAKA states."

I didn't need to look around. I already did that earlier. This was the area by the bridge near one of the residential districts. A wide open plain of short grass stood near the bank of the river. A large enough area for us to fight without disturbing anyone.

"All of you are the same, huh? Walking straight to your deaths! How pathetic, though I suppose that is your job, right!?"

It was Accelerator, taunting me. Trying to get me to run or tremble in fear. Trying to get some kind of response out of me.

His words were useless.

"Fine fine, enough talking, right? Then I'll just go ahead and start then!"

I pulled out the rifle I had been given and aimed it at Accelerator, not that it would do anything. Maybe I hoped it would at least slow him down.

_Click, Click, Click._

I looked down at my gun.

Oh yeah. Then, at that time…

_"Sorry, Misaka-chan, but I'm going to need to borrow these… I promise I'll return them."_

I had used up all my ammunition at that time.

I threw the gun to the side. Fine then.

I launched an electrical attack at Accelerator, but, as expected, it didn't leave so much as a scratch.

"Hehehehe," Accelerator laughed as he stepped closer, "There's nothing you can do against me! NOTHING!"

* * *

_Kurogori Tetsuo's Side_

Once I got home, I flopped down on the couch tiredly. I placed the the plush Misaka-san gave me on the table in front of me and sighed.

Sure, I didn't like the situation, but what the hell could I do?

"Tetsuo," my sister frowned, "what kind of defeated look is that?"

I looked up at my sister. She was sitting there, her hands on her hips and her eyebrows furrowed at me in anger.

"Don't stick your nose into unrelated things." I replied, rolling over. The only thing I wanted to do now was sleep.

"I know about the clones… if you really want to save that person, you should just go, right?" my sister added.

"Even if I went, what could I do? It'd be completely irrational to -"

"_MISAKA now thinks she'd probably do something irrational, if it meant making those she cared about happy."_

"Tch, even if I wanted to, I have no idea where she ran off to!" I replied.

My sister sighed, "Honestly, did you really think your Onee-chan wouldn't have that covered?"

She handed me a small GPS with a blinking dot on it.

The goggles… she had put a tracker on them.

"Geez," I sighed, grabbing the tracker, taking a can of soda from the fridge, and headed for the door, "What a pain this is."

"Oh, Tetsuo~!" My sister called.

"Hm?" I turned around to face her.

"You're up against the strongest… don't hold back, alright?" she smiled.

"I wasn't planning on it," I answered.

* * *

_Misaka 9964's Side_

"Ha… ha..."

That was it, this was the limit of my strength…

"Ha… ha…"

I stumbled on the ground and grasped my bleeding leg in pain. This was it, this was where this experiment concluded.

"Ha! Is that all you got!?" Accelerator charged towards where I was standing. What would he do, I wonder?

How would I die?

Suddenly, the temperature dropped by at least five degrees.

There was a wall of ice between me an Accelerator, and through the distortions, I could see Tetsuo-kun.

I smiled, then felt myself lose consciousness.

* * *

_Kurogori Tetsuo's Side_

"Oi! You're that ice asshole from last night!" Accelerator grinned, "I thought you were smart because you wanted to run! But I guess you're as stupid as that shithead friend of yours."

I sighed, "Maybe. After all, a Level 3 like me going up against a Level 5, that's irrational, right?"

"You weak asses are just lining up to get killed, aren't you? Couldn't it have at least been another Level 5?" Accelerator complained, rubbing the back of his neck.

I smiled, reaching up to one of the white bracelets I always wore.

"You want to fight a Level 5, huh? Fine then. I wasn't planning on holding back anyway."

I took it off and let it fall to the ground. It slowly powered down, revealing that it wasn't actually white material.

In reality, it was a black, heat-resistant non-metallic alloy that grew white hot when exposed to a weak electric current. I had to constantly use some of my powers to keep them cool to the touch so they didn't burn anyone.

Even with one of them, I couldn't ever use 100 percent of my full power. With two, I could use about 50.

I let the other one fall to the ground as well.

Holding out my hands and focusing on Accelerator, I unleashed the true form of my Esper ability at full power.

"ABSOLUTE ZERO!"

* * *

**AN: So, there we have it. Kenji is officially out of the fight, and Tetsuo is officially in. But even with his full strength, will Tetsuo be able to take down Accelerator? An what will the ultimate fate of Misaka #9964 be?**

**Pfft, why would I tell you now? Wait until the next chapter!**

**In the meantime, go ahead and review. Reviews are always appreciated!**


	8. Chapter 8

_Kurogori Tetsuo's Side_

Accelerator was not happy.

His arm was encased in strange, black ice, and he was staring at it wide-eyed. With this reflection ability, he probably never got hit with an attack like that before.

"W-what the hell is this?" he yelled, "You _can't _be some damn Level 3!"

"You're right…" I replied, "In truth, I'm only a Level 3 on paper… it's easier that way. I don't want the kind of attention that a Level 5 gets… too much work."

"As if that fucking matters, asshole, what the hell is this?" he yelled, pointing to his arm.

"Like my ability? Let me explain it to you before I freeze you solid. Absolute Zero. 0 degrees Kelvin. The temperature at which atoms themselves stop vibrating. A theoretical impossibility, at least for machines. A Zero Energy Environment. Don't you think that kind of Personal Reality fits a lazy-ass like me? Oh yeah, you'll probably have a bit of trouble changing vectors in an environment where kinetic energy doesn't exist, I bet."

He growled and slammed his arm against the ground to break the ice, but nothing happened. I smirked.

"Oh yeah, that black ice is special. It can't be broken normally. Only I can dispel it with my powers. By the way, it's black like that because even the photons within froze still." I proclaimed.

I came running towards him, "But, since you're arm is frozen solid, if I dispel the ice, you're arm's gonna shatter, won't it?"

He held up his arm to block, and I punched it, shattering the black ice around it. But, in that split second before I smashed his arm to pieces, he activated his reflection, and blocked normally. He then whirled around and kicked me in the face.

"Damn," I replied, rubbing my cheek. I could feel blood trickle down the corner of my lips, "I foolishly thought I could gain an advantage if I did something like that."

"Okay, shit-hole, you pissed me off! But I've got to admit, a battle with a Level 5 like you might actually make me sweat a bit!" Accelerator growled, his voice growing high-pitched at the end, "I'll smear your all over the fucking ground, you piece of dog shit!"

He charged at me and aimed for my face, but a small circle of black ice appeared and stopped his fist in it's tracks. He grit his teeth and then whirled around to kick me, but once again, black ice appeared and stopped him.

"Tch," he took a step back.

"Heh, you've never fought an opponent who could block your attacks, have you?" I asked smugly, "Don't you realize this is what people feel like when they fight you? An opponent they can't even hit. Well, I guess you can hit me if you catch me off guard. My ice shield isn't as effective as your reflection, after all."

"Eat shit, asshole!" Accelerator charged at me once more.

76.5% chance he'll come from the left, 13.5% he'll come from the right… 10% chance he'll come from above…

At the last second, he used his vectors to propel himself around me.

"F-from the back!?"

He kicked me and I was sent flying into the air. He then jumped after be and grabbed me by the head.

Wait, that was it, wasn't it? He didn't have his reflection when he was grabbing my head, because there was no reason to expect an attack.

Right before he could throw me at the ground, I created an ice dagger in my mouth and shot it into his hand…

At least, that's what I had been expecting.

Instead, it reflected off of him, and I had to jerk my head back before it impaled me in the eye. It cut into the skin of my eyelid instead, and I could feel blood dripping down my face.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT, ASSHOLE!?" Accelerator yelled, tossing me at the ground.

I landed roughly, though I had managed to break by fall a bit by quickly freezing water vapor in the air to create snow.

"Phew," I sighed, "That was a close one."

Damn, Now I had to keep my left eye closed to keep blood out of it. A handicap like that just wasn't fair in a fight like this.

When Accelerator landed, I held out my hand towards him once again, and his torso was surrounded by black ice.

I'll just have to use an attack that will break through the black ice and hit him at the same time, then.

I held up by hand and produced black ice daggers.

"Alright, alright… that reflection ability of yours is pretty annoying… but you know, I think I found a way around it!"

I tossed all three of the daggers. Accelerator managed to block two of them with his unfrozen arms, but one got through and stabbed him through the black ice.

After that, the black ice shattered, but it didn't matter. I could damage him like this.

"S-shit!" he looked down at his side where the knife had hit. blood wasn't seeping out of the wound, but his shirt was torn. I definitely hit him.

"Ah," I replied, "I see, so you're a glass cannon. You're really strong, but without your ability, you'll go down in a few hits right? Once I beat you, I'll probably be found out as a Level 5… but that's fine, right?"

As long as it was for her sake.

I procured more black ice daggers with my ability.

"Don't fucking screw with me!" he yelled. Charging at me.

I didn't want to try to block. The best way to go about this battle was to focus on working around his reflection.

I held out my hand and more black ice appeared on Accelerator's left shoulder. I quickly tossed the knives at his shoulders, and all three of them hit.

But then, they didn't.

They reflected off, and one wound up reflecting back at me.

It pierced through my chest, puncturing my right lung. I doubled over, coughing up blood.

Accelerator laughed.

"Hehe, my reflection… even if you attack me with such a troublesome strategy… when you hit me once, I automatically came up with a countermeasure… that silly little attack won't work on me twice, shit-hole!"

My calculations were right. Even as I was now, my chances of beating Accelerator were 0%.

He punched me in the face, then kicked at the knife still embedded in my chest, causing it to drive in deeper. I coughed up more blood. He then whirled around and punched be in the stomach before grabbing my head and throwing me at one of the support pillars for the nearby bridge. I slammed into it hard and left a trail of blood sliding down it.

"I'm done wasting my time on you. You'll bleed out on your own. Enjoy your painful death, you little shit!"

He turned away from me and started walking towards Misaka-san. Quickly shattering the ice,he picked up her unconscious form and tossed it aside.

I watched the goggles my sister had customized fall off her head and land roughly on the ground in front of me.

He sighed, "I'm tired. I'll end this quickly, then."

He stomped the ground and a large chunk of earth went flying up in the air. As it was coming back down, he punched it at Misaka-san.

In that moment, I felt powerless, and with this kind of thought, I finally succumbed to my injuries and passed out.

* * *

_Arakuyo Kenji's Side_

I sighed. There were supplementary classes again today. Luckily, tomorrow was the weekend, so I'd get to enjoy the summer as summer should be enjoyed.

I rolled over in a half-asleep daze, and my hand touched something warm and soft.

Oh yeah, I had returned home. This was the first time in three or four days I actually slept in my bed.

But more importantly…

"Oi, what are you doing on my side, Miyako-san?" I asked.

She was surprisingly awake, and she smiled at me with half-lidded eyes, "Oh? but from where your hand is, it seems like you don't mind."

"That's my broken arm, damnit, I can't move it around too much! You're the one in the wrong position, you shameless woman!" I yelled, dragging myself out of bed, "Anyway, I have classes again today, but I'll be home early."

"Alright!" she smiled, "Let's go somewhere fun when you get back, okay?"

"Sure, sure," I replied, heading out into the kitchen to eat breakfast. However, as I was leaving, my cell phone, which was left on my night stand, went off.

I looked at it. It was a text from Kamishirasawa-sensei.

"_Don't bother coming in. I'm a bit preoccupied today. You get a day off. Remember, classes resume Monday, so don't be late~!"_

"Ah, looks like I got a day off…" I noted, "So, where do you want to go?"

* * *

_Kurogori Tetsuo's Side_

I woke up in the hospital. My chest ached dully, and I had an IV drip running into my left arm. Monitors beeped beside me, and standing next to my bed where two figures.

One was an old man with a balding hairstyle and a frog-like face.

"Heaven Canceller…" I recalled. My voice sounded dry and raspy, "I'll never forget the name of the man that saved my sister's life."

Of course, that was a story for another day.

I looked over. Standing next to him was Kamishirasawa-sensei.

"My, my, how did Tetsuo-san end up like this, I wonder…" she held up the shard of black ice that punctured my lung, "Furthermore, what kind of ability is this? Definitely not the ability of a Level 3?"

I sighed. Kamishirasawa-sensei was closely related to the Power Curriculum Program. I guess I'd have to come clean.

"Actually, I-"

She held up her hand, "Well, it's not my place to pry. One day, I'm sure you'll be tired of keeping secrets."

I sighed. Closing my eyes.

"Say," she asked, "Were you able to save that important person to you?"

I recalled the sight of the large chunk of earth descending upon the unconscious form of Misaka-san.

"Who knows," I looked up.

"'_MISAKA thinks… she would've liked to enjoy this kind of irrational, fun atmosphere a bit longer.' MISAKA adds."_

In truth, perhaps I already had.

Kamishirasawa-sensei smiled, "What will you do now?"

"The experiment isn't something I can stop alone," I replied, "I'm done fighting for now, but…"

"'But?'" Kamishirasawa-sensei urged me to continue.

"It's nothing…" I finished after some hesitation.

"Well, I'm off, then!" Kamishirasawa-sensei smiled, "Try not to end up in the hospital every day!"

I sighed. Of course I wouldn't do that.

"My," Heaven Canceller sighed, "That woman brings a tense atmosphere wherever she walks, don't you think?"

I nodded silently, and he sighed.

"Well, I'm a doctor, so I guess I probably do too!" he laughed, then his face grew serious, "Getting into a fight with the Strongest in Academy City… well, you probably had your reasons. Oh! By the way, are these yours?"

He held up Misaka-san's goggles, complete with the pink heart. However, the paint had been scratched, and a zig-zagged line was now running down the center of the heart.

A broken heart. What an absurd coincidence.

"You were grasping them pretty tightly, even though you were passed out. We could barely pry your hand open." he explained.

"Y-yeah, those are mine," I lied. But it was fine, right?

After all, the person they belonged to wouldn't be needing them again.

"Well, I'll be going, then. Stay in that bed, alright? You're lucky to be alive as it is, I don't want you reopening your wounds," he finished, handing me the goggles and walking out of the room.

I looked down at the goggles.

Sadness.

I was feeling sadness, and something told me this wasn't just the usual dull pang that I could sleep off.

Suddenly, the door slid open and my sister rushed into the room.

"Tetsuo~!" she smiled, then leaned over to catch her breath, "Your Onee-chan is sorry for not being here when you woke up!"

I sighed, "It doesn't really matter, does it? You're only about ten minutes late."

She frowned, "Geez, be a bit more sentimental, will you! Anyway, I was getting into contact with one of my friends for important business. By the way, it's probably something you're interested in."

"Hm?" I asked, "What is it?"

"She'll be staying at a friend's house for now… there's no room in ours," my sister explained without being specific.

"What, who's staying where?" I asked, confused.

"Your girl- the clone," my sister corrected herself, deciding now was not the time for jokes.

"Wait, what do you mean? I failed at saving her. Accelerator crushed her to death," I explained.

"You mean, you don't know what happened?" my sister asked, "You protected her after all. At the last second, you encased her in black ice to protect her. We found her buried underneath a large mound of rocks and rubble. Accelerator probably didn't realize she was left unharmed."

I sighed. So, she was alive after all.

"As she is now, the scientists won't realize she's still alive… however, if you were to thaw her out…"

"They'd find out she was still alive and send Accelerator after her again," I finished.

"Most likely," she replied, "So, even though you saved her, she'll have to be kept inside the ice until the experiment is over or Accelerator is stopped somehow."

I smiled, "That's fine, then."

My sister's eyes widened at my reaction, "Tetsuo, you're _smiling!_ She _is _your girlfriend, isn't she?"

"Of course not, don't be ridiculous," I replied.

Still, I was inexplicably relieved to hear she was okay. And with that thought in my mind, I leaned my head back and closed my eyes, drifting off to sleep with the pair of goggles in my hands.

* * *

_Miyako Mizuki's Side_

"Ah, on a hot day like today, it's got to be the pool!" I smiled.

"Oi, how are we going to go to the pool if you don't have a swimsuit?" Arakuyo-san asked.

I flashed him a cat-like grin, "Ne, Arakuyo-san, haven't you ever heard of skinny-"

"We're not doing that, shameless woman!" he yelled back.

I sighed, "But it's so hooot~! I complained, slouching and dragging my feet in a melodramatic manner.

"Why not ice cream, then?" He asked, pointing to a small ice cream parlor nearby.

I immediately ran inside and collapsed on one of the tables.

"Oh, heavenly air conditioning!" I smiled, "How I missed thee!"

"What kind of ice cream do you want?" Arakuyo-kun asked, standing at the counter.

"Ah, isn't mint chocolate chip the best kind? But since I'm here, maybe I should try some of the new flavors… ah, but I like mint chocolate chip…" I thought about it for a bit.

In the end, Arakuyo-san got some kind of peanut butter-chocolate swirl, and I wound up with mint chocolate chip.

I noticed that the peanut butter-chocolate swirl looked rather good… I looked over at my ice cream.

Should I try trading? Wait, but then he'd probably say something like, "I'm not trading with you, you just want to indirectly kiss, right? Shameless woman!"

I sighed, eating my ice cream with a dejected look while gazing at his.

After a few moments, he noticed.

"Hm? Do you want to try some of mine? Geez, just ask next time," he replied, holding out the spoon to me.

I blushed madly, "E-eh, but… I uh…"

But this is what I wanted, right?

I closed my eyes, trying not to think about things like indirectly kissing, and tried some.

My eyes shot open, "It's really good! Give me more please!"

"Oi! If you wanted it, you should've ordered it!" he replied.

"Here, you can try some of mine!" I smiled, holding out my spoon.

"W-wait, I don't really like mint-" he started protesting.

"IT'S REALLY GOOD!" I forced the spoon into his mouth.

"Hm… actually, that's not bad," he replied.

"Then let's trade, ne?" I asked, but it wasn't really a request, I had already snatched the cup of ice cream from his hands.

"H-hey! don't just take things without permission, get back here!" Arakuyo-san yelled, but I had already bolted down the street with his cup, eating and smiling happily.

* * *

_Kirisame Renko's Side_

"Ne, Renko-san?"

It was Miki-chan. She was looking over at me timidly, lowering her head so her hair fell over her eyes.

"Hm?" I asked.

We were currently walking down the halls of our dorm, which also doubled as our school. Kirigaoka Girl's Academy was an interesting school indeed. First off, our school and dorms were part of the same facility. A large, towering complex that rose higher than most schools one would expect to see. Second thing to note was it's focus. It mostly focused on raising students unusual or uncommon Esper abilities, but there were currently two students in the entire school with no Epser abilities to speak of.

Miki-chan and I were the exceptions to this rule.

Now, I had gotten in through mostly legal means. I just borrowed a few transcript forms and came across a nice man in a trenchcoat that was willing to help provide me with a fake ID after I lasered him in the face a couple of times.

I may or may not have used my "light-amplifying powers" to make lasers during the System Scans.

However, when it came to my friends, I came clean. Somewhat...

"_Eh, it's some sort of electronic device?"_

"_You do always seem to have something blocky hidden under your arm when you fire them, and I've only seen you use your lasers during the System Scan."_

"_Ah! So you were faking the whole time!? That's scandalous."_

Now, Miki-chan was a different story. She was in the school through completely legal means.

She, at one point, had a Level 3 Esper ability, but then she began to lose it.

Skill Decay, she had informed me it was called.

An incredibly rare case where an Esper gradually loses their abilities for seemingly no reason.

She had been kept in the Academy simply to study this phenomenon, but she was absolutely not happy about it.

"How do you stand it?" she asked.

"Hm?"

"How do you stand lying to everyone, pretending you have an Esper ability… you know, you could get into serious trouble, couldn't you?" Miki-chan asked.

"Ah, yeah, probably. But you know what? Even if I do, isn't it worth it?" I asked, "After all, I was able to meet Miki-chan, and Yui, and Awaki-san."

"That's true…" she replied, "but I mean, if you're a Level 0, shouldn't you give up? You could always find a home with other Level 0s…"

"What do you mean? Why would I do that?" I asked.

"I… I'm thinking about leaving the school…" Miki-chan announced suddenly.

"W-what are you talking about, Miki-chan? Don't you want to be by your friends?" I asked.

She looked down, and I noticed a tear fall from her eyes onto her hand, "Of course I do, but… I'm a Level 0 now… I… I don't belong in some prestigious Academy like this! It's… it's not fair… I had a power… I was a Level 3… but… then that was taken away from me!"

"Miki-chan, you still have us, your friends, right?" I asked.

She turned to me with a surprisingly angry glare, "You wouldn't understand! You've never had a power to begin with!"

She ran off down the hall and out one of the emergency exits. I sighed.

"Geez, what's with her all of a sudden?"

* * *

_Ibuki Miki's Side_

I ran through the streets. The sun was starting to go down, so there was less people than normal around, but even still, I felt extremely self-conscious.

I sighed, "Stupid Renko and her stupid fake ability…"

In truth, I didn't want to leave the school, but every day it was getting harder to stay.

"_Say, isn't that the girl who actually lost her Esper abilities?"_

"_Don't talk to her, she's a Level 0 now!"_

"_Maybe she never really had a power, and is just using that as an excuse!"_

"_Hey, don't touch her, you don't want to lose your Esper ability, do you?"_

I stopped, tears welling up in my eyes.

"Damn it! Why am I so useless!" I collapsed to the ground.

"Hey, girlie?" a man asked. I looked up. He was approaching me with a smug look on his face.

"S-stay back!" I begged, but there was nothing I could do.

"You seem pretty miserable there, don't ya?" he asked. His breath reeked of cigarettes and his clothes were dirty and bloodied, as if he had just gotten into a street fight.

"I'm warning you!" I backed up, but then bumped into another person. I turned around. It was someone equally as suspicious.

"You're a Level 0, right? Else you would'a been fightin' back with yer powers!" the second guy asked.

"Say, say," the first guy replied, "Tired of bein' powerless, aren't ya? Tired of bein' unable to do things?"

He smiled and pulled what looked to be a music player out of his pocket.

"If you want, you can change that. I'll give this to you… for a reasonable price."

"W-what… what's that supposed to be?" I asked.

"Heh, you live under a rock? This is Level Upper… it can give even Level 0s Esper abilities, ya know?" the second guy replied.

"We'll be nice and sell it to ya real cheap," the first guy replied, "Or we can beat the money out of ya, and leave ya with nothing."

I frowned. What a choice. I was caught between a rock and a hard place, it seemed.

And yet…

"F-fine, how much is it?" I asked timidly.

Like Eve, giving into the temptation dangled in front of her by the serpent, I wanted to accept this Level Upper.

If I could really get my ability back, I could stay with my friends.

The two guys looked at each other and smiled, the price they named was a small price for that sliver of happiness.

* * *

**AN: Well, there we go. The story wastes no time jumping directly into the next (short) story arc. I really want to get Himegami Aisa and her Deep Blood involved in this, and actually focus more on vampire stuff in general, but trying to keep things tied into the main story line means I need one or two more days in-story before that can happen, since right now, Touma would be sleeping for the three days before he saves Index's memory and loses his own.**

**This next arc will be jump back and forth between Renko and her friends and Kenji and Mizuki, so don't worry, the titular vampire of To Aru Majutsu no ****_Kyuketsuki_**** will be coming back into the spotlight as her and Kenji's friendship grows. **

**I wonder what will happen when she meets that Deep Blood Miko-san?**

**For those of you who haven't heard of it, Level Upper is a pre-existing concept from To Aru Kagaku no Railgun. And for those of you who are aware, you have a pretty good idea of how this will turn out.**

**As always, leave a review, they're appreciated!**


	9. Chapter 9

_Kirisame Renko's Side_

I was sitting on my bed, reading a manga absentmindedly. Really I was doing little more than holding it in front of my face, staring at the same page.

Yui was rambling on about plans for tomorrow. It was summer, after all.

"So, I was thinking we should all go out to eat tomorrow or something! I mean, we've all been busy, but Awaki-san said she had tomorrow off, so as long as you don't run away again…"

"Ne, Yui?" I asked.

"Hm?" she tilted her head to the side, "What is it?"

"Has…" I paused, "Hasn't Miki-chan been acting strangely lately?"

I frowned. Last night…

"_You wouldn't understand! You've never had a power to begin with!"_

Geez, saying something like that carelessly… yet at the same time, this wasn't something a rogue witch like me could get involved in.

In truth, being a mage in the Power Curriculum Program was trouble. I used a special medication to counteract the effects so I wouldn't accidentally become an Esper, but even then, those medications weren't perfect.

If I lost my ability to do magic…

I shook my head. That wasn't important now.

"A-ah… well, lately… she's been…" Yui began, then trailed off.

"She's been… what?"

"Ah! Lately, she's been acting all flustered around Awaki-san! She probably has some kind of crush on her, don't you think?" Yui finished, smiling.

"A-a-ah, y-yeah…" I finished.

The truth was, if Yui found out I let Miki-chan run out like that without stopping her, she would scold me. In many ways, she really was motherly. She acted kind, sensible, and caring, she was a good cook, she always cleaned our dorm, despite me telling her I could help, and she could be really stern when it came to her own values.

"But, you know, Awaki-san's normally rather distant… and she might like guys... maybe Miki-san's wasting her time…" Yui began, then looked at me and blushed a little, "Ah, look at me worrying about things like that, it's just that Miki-san's my friend, I'd worry about her, you know?"

That stabbed me like a needle.

"A-ah, the truth is… Miki-chan…" I began, "Miki-san said… that…"

"Hm?" Yui asked.

"Guys!"

Miki-chan burst into our room excitedly. Eyes glowing with excitement.

"My powers returned!" She replied, smiling.

* * *

_Arakuyo Kenji's Side_

"Geez," I sighed, "What a troublesome bunch you are."

"Oi, don't take us lightly!" one of the guys surrounding me and Miyako-san spat, holding out his hands, "We're not pathetic Level 1s anymore!"

"Our Levels have gone up, you see?" another one mocked.

"Who the hell cares about Levels?" I asked, "You assholes! Just what the hell were you trying to do to my friend, huh!?"

I had left for five minutes to get drinks from a nearby vending machine, and when I returned, they were surrounding her. One of them had his filthy hands on her inner thigh.

To hell if that was going to fly with me.

I tried to punch the guy in front of me. He was wearing a wool hat and a loose-fitting hoodie, and had tired brown eyes and a five-o'clock shadow. Basically someone you'd expect to be a street punk.

However, when I swung at him, he sidestepped, "I can read your movements, asshole!"

He then punched me in the face instead.

I didn't like this turn of events.

"Oi, oi, oi!" I yelled back. I went to throw another punch at the punk who just punched me. Unfortunately, I was blocked by his friend, who had teleported in front of me.

"Oh, a teleporter?" I smiled, "Sorry, I'm used to dealing with a pesky ability like yours!"

I made like I was going to punch him, and predictably in this narrow alleyway, he teleported behind me. I whirled around and decked him in the face before he could teleport again.

"Now, the rest of you, if you will," I motioned for them to come at me.

Suddenly, I got decked in the face again. It was that asshole who could read movement.

"Tch, alright, you want a fight!?" I yelled.

Suddenly, that clarity from before, the "enlightened" feeling where I could suddenly perform advanced calculations in seconds, washed over me again.

"Heh, good timing!"

I unleashed the full force of my power on the rest of the punks who wanted to pick a fight, and it was over quickly.

I turned around and wiped off my hands, but Miyako-san, who had been standing behind me, had wide eyes.

"Y-you're eyes…" she exclaimed, "the… they're white!"

* * *

_Kirisame Renko's Side_

"E-eh, you're ability, just like that?" I asked.

Yui frowned, but said nothing.

Miki nodded, "Yeah, it's back! It's definitely back!"

As she sat there cheering, I frowned.

"Hey, Miki-chan… you… you never exactly told me what you're ability was… you just mentioned you 'lost it'..." I pointed out, "What kind of Esper ability do you have?"

"Ah!" Yui's eyes widened, "that's right, you weren't here two years ago!"

"Two… two years?" I asked.

Kirigaoka Girl's Academy had both middle and high school facilities, and even college facilities, which is why they went out of their way combining the schools and dorms together. That meant that even first years in high school could've been going here since middle school.

"Miki sighed, ah, the day that Awaki-chan got injured and the day I began to lose my powers… were one in the same," Miki explained.

Yui nodded, "Awaki-san got badly injured by teleporting herself into a wall...but there's no reason behind Miki-san's powers fading."

"But now, they're back!" Miki smiled.

"Ne… Miki-chan…" I pouted, "You still never told me what your ability is…"

"Ah, that's right!" Miki's eyes lit up, "My ability is…"

She threw a cup of pencils straight up in the air above her head, and just when it looked like they were about to hit her, she raised her hand and they reflected off of her.

"Vector Change!"

My eyes widened.

"EEEEEEEHHHHHHHHH!?"

* * *

_Arakuyo Kenji's Side_

Miyako-san was right. My eyes _were _white.

I was staring at myself in the mirror of the men's bathroom at a nearby diner. The sensation of clarity

Now, let me explain. She wasn't talking about my scleras, which, like any normal person's were always white. She meant my normally amber colored irises. For some reason, they were glowing white.

"This and the sensation of 'clarity'... they're definitely connected… but what does it mean?" I asked. Miyako-san wasn't around, given where I was, but…

"Geez, this is strange…" I sighed, "Is it… some sort of concussion… I first experienced it when Accelerator slammed my head into the concrete… and it only activated after I was punched today…"

I sighed. It would be a bit more helpful if I knew how to activate it.

Suddenly, my eyes faded back to amber, and the "clarity" faded. I quickly checked my phone for the time.

"Hm? Five minutes… it's been five or six minutes since it activated…" I nodded, "Well, even if it's random, at least I have a basis for a time limit. Of course, a good scientist knows that only one test won't produce accurate results… so-"

"Arakuyo-san, did you fall in!? Don't make me come in there!"

I gritted my teeth, "Stay out there, you shameless woman!"

I opened the door, and Miyako-san was staring at me mischievously.

"Eh, you're eyes are back to normal!?" she asked.

I nodded, "Yeah, don't worry about it… so… since where here, might as well eat, right?"

* * *

_Kirisame Renko's Side_

My loud scream made the dorm supervisor come in and drag Miki back to her own dorm, leaving me and Yui alone.

"V-Vector Change?" I echoed in shock, "Like...?"

"Yeah," Yui replied, nodding, "like the Accelerator… but Miki was only a Level 3, and she can't use reflection all the time… she has to consciously focus in order to reflect things… and she can't reflect bullets or anything like that… still…"

"Still?" I repeated. I was starting to feel like a parrot.

Yui smiled sadly, "Everyone sets goals for themselves… right? In order to grow stronger, you need to have a destination, somewhere you want to reach. It can't just be, 'I want to get stronger' or 'I want to gain another level', it's something like, 'when I visualize myself at my destination, it makes me strive harder to get there', get it? Well, Accelerator was Miki's destination. She wanted to work her way up to the top. She wanted to be the strongest… To someone like that, someone who was working up to a goal like that… losing her powers was probably the most painful thing to her."

I frowned, "Ah… that must've been hard for her."

"But!" Yui smiled, "If she's really gotten her powers back… then I guess it's okay to be happy for her, right? She can keep striving towards that goal of hers, and we can support her, ne, Renko-san?"

I nodded slowly, but something still didn't seem right.

How… how did she get her ability back so easily… rather, how come she was on the verge of tears because of it earlier, then it came back instantly… it's almost like…

"Say, Yui…" I asked, "You seem happy about Miki's ability returning, but when she first told us, you frowned at her… why?"

Yui sighed, "Level Upper… it's a… it's something that's rumored to make you stronger. It can even give powers to Level 0s…"

"Is… is it, a drug?" I asked.

"Maybe," Yui replied, "Sounds like it, anyway. I sincerely hope Miki-san didn't get into anything too serious… Geez, making us worry like this!? We should probably just ask her tomorrow..."

I frowned…

If that's really the case…

"Miki-chan…" I sighed, "Just what have you gotten yourself into?"

* * *

_Arakuyo Kenji's Side_

"Itadakimasu!" Miyako-san practically yelled as she dug into her food.

I sighed, prodding at mine with a pair of chopsticks, and she looked up at me.

"What's wrong?" she asked with a mouth full of udon.

"Something weird's been happening to me ever since I fought Accelerator…" I admitted, "Like, it's hard to explain… it's kind of like… you know when you have a word on the tip of your tongue, but no matter how hard you try, you can't think of the word? Well, imagine suddenly being able to think of that word… you're brain has a 'Eureka!' moment? Well, it's like, sometimes I can do calculations and processing much faster than normal… I've been calling it 'clarity'."

"Well, I'm not an esper, so I wouldn't have any idea…" Miyako-san admitted.

I sighed, "Yeah, Kamishirasawa-sensei didn't know either…" I replied.

For the next few minutes, we sat in silence.

"W-wait!" my eyes widened, "I just realized something! I've been worrying about what's going on with me this whole time, but that guy back there… he said something like 'our levels have gone up!'... What was with that!?"

"You mean, you haven't heard anything about it yet?" Miyako asked, "I guess it's because I work at a convenience store, but I hear a lot of gossip. Level Upper… it's some sort of drug or something… it's supposed to raise the power levels of Espers… though, how exactly, I'm not sure… It's supposed to be relatively new, though."

My eyes widened. Raise the power levels…

Wait, did that mean… my ability was? What was with this clarity, and why did it coincide suspiciously with the new "Level Upper"...

Don't tell me… I somehow… came into contact with Level Upper…

I looked down at my hands. There was only one path from here, right?

"I'm going to find out what this 'Level Upper' is, but I'm not doing it alone" I replied, "Miyako-san, you ready to go?"

Miyako-san finished up her food and nodded, "Right!"

* * *

_Arakuyo Kenji's Side_

"The way I see it, we can do this two ways," I replied, "You can tell me about Level Upper, or I could beat the shit out of you again."

I was grabbing one of the goons I beat up earlier by the collar.

"Hehehe… w-wait! I don't… when I said that, I was jokin' around! Jokin', ya here me!?" he asked, holding up his hands.

"Joking my ass!" I yelled, "I don't feel like punching you again, but I'll punch you as many times as I have too."

"A-ah! H-here! Take it, just take it!" he yelled, "Please, don't hurt me!"

He held out what looked to me a simple music player.

"I'm not trying to mug you, asshole, I'm asking about-"

"Level Upper," a voice from behind me replied, "That's Level Upper, don't you know?"

I turned around confused, and saw a guy standing in the alleyway behind me. He had long, black hair and sharp green eyes. He was wearing a red hoodie and torn jeans, as well as a pair of combat boots and fingerless gloves. In his hand, he held a wooden practice sword with a dragon design carved halfway down the sword.

"It's been causing us a lot of problems. Turning our members into Espers," he looked down at the group around him and sighed. He turned to me, "I'll be taking that, then."

"What the hell do you mean?" I asked.

"I'm Ryuu, leader of the Skillout group Dark Dragon…" he smiled, "I'm currently investigating Level Upper."

"That was also my intention," I replied, "Sorry, but I'll be taking this."

He looked down and watched me grab the music player from the guy's hand.

He sighed, "Geez, alright, alright… it wouldn't be fair to take what's yours. You did this, right?"

I nodded, "They provoked me."

He nodded, "I'll go ahead and look somewhere else for Level Upper, then… but, let me warn you, Esper, the next time our goals ever conflict or we're both after the same thing…"

He slashed sideways with his practice sword, and it managed to cut through the metal pipe running along the end of the alleyway.

"I won't hesitate to fight you."

I watched him walk off as I looked down at the music player.

"Level Upper… huh?" I asked, clenching my fists, "I wonder if that's really what's been going on with me?"

* * *

_Kurogori Akane's Side_

"So," I began, walking through the doors from the harshly lit hallway into the relatively dark room. The change of lighting made it so that for the first minute I could barely make out anything.

However, the figure of the frog-faced man, sitting in front of one of the many monitors in the room, was all too familiar to me.

"What's this all about?" I finished.

Heaven Canceller turned around and looked at me, "It's nothing serious… but…" he glanced over at the human-sized block of black ice, "Even if she were to stay in there indefinitely, her life wouldn't be in any danger. However, I am a doctor. I would prefer it if we moved her into an actual capsule so I could monitor her properly."

"So, why'd you call me here?" I asked, "Need me to ask Tetsuo to break the ice?"

He shook his head, "That isn't necessary. Even if this ice is unbreakable by normal means, I know of a certain someone I could use to dispel it. The problem is what you told your brother… if the scientists somehow find out she's alive…"

I nodded, "In other words, you want to know the best way of going about transferring her, correct? Any transmissions would be easy to block, but if they're scanning for her AIM… well… I've got something for that too."

He smiled, "When that person who can dispel this ice arrives, I'll contact you. Thank you for coming here so late."

"Hey, I owe you a hell of a lot," I replied.

He shook his head, "Saving a patient's life is the duty of any doctor. Besides, I failed to restore your ability. I should be apologizing for that."

"The past is the past… I'm not going to blame you for something beyond your control… besides, I like the quiet life I've fallen into…" I turned, looking at the block of ice, "That girl… my brother might not admit it, but she's special to him. Let's do our best to protect her, alright?"

* * *

_Kirisame Renko's Side_

I woke up early the next day to the smell of breakfast. I looked around the empty room. Our dorm consisted of two rooms and a toilet room. A main room with a kitchenette and a living room, and a bedroom with two twin-sized beds on opposite sides of the wall. There was a communal bathroom on every floor where we took our showers.

I stretched and climbed out of bed, making my way into the main room for breakfast. However, what I wasn't expecting was Miki's roommate, Hanashi Mei, to be sitting at the table. Her brown hair was tied up in long, flowing twin-tails, and she was still wearing a pair of light pink pajamas.

Yui turned around and smiled, "Oh, Renko-san! Mei-san here came to ask about Miki-san, so I invited her in."

I smiled. That was just like Yui.

In just a few minutes, we all had full plates to eat, and we were sitting down at the table, Yui next to me and Mei-san across from both of us.

"Mm! It's good!" Mei replied.

"Thank you," Yui smiled, "Now, Mei-san, what did you want to ask about?"

"A-ah, well," she began, "Miki-chan… Miki-chan never came back last night."

"W-what!?" We both asked, alarmed.

"S-she… she said that she was going to tell you two about her powers coming back… but she never came back… I thought she was with you… but…" Mei-san looked down.

Yui smiled, "Don't worry, Mei-san! Miki-san might not be half as strong as the Accelerator, but her Epser ability is still Vector Change! I'm sure she's fine. Just to be sure, me and Renko-san will go around places she usually hangs out."

"Hey, you said Awaki-san has a day off," I replied, "We should make her go and-"

Thwack!

Yui frowned, lowering the hand she slapped my head with, "You know Awaki-san doesn't like teleporting herself!"

"Ow. I was just joking!" I whined, "Yui, you're so cruel!"

Mei smiled, "I… I guess I can leave it to you, then…"

"Hey!" I smiled, "Why don't you come with us!"

"E-eh!" she asked, looking a bit uncomfortable.

Yui nodded, "You want to help find Miki-san, right?"

"Come on," I smiled, "It'll be fun!"

"I guess so," she nodded, "Sure, I'll come!"

* * *

_Miyako Mizuki's Side_

By the time I woke up, Arakuyo-san was already eating breakfast, a serious look plastered across his face.

"Morning," I replied, heading over to the kitchen to grab myself a plate.

He didn't reply.

I sat down across from him, sighing, "So, you managed to get Level Upper, but you have no way of analyzing it, is that right?"

He nodded, "Yeah, I was thinking about taking it to Kamishirasawa-sensei but she told me that she was busy with this and that, so I'd have to wait for her help…"

I sighed, "Maybe you should ask that Ryuu guy for help. If you're both researching Level Upper, it'll be faster if you work together, right?"

"No way," He frowned, "There's no way I'd work with someone like him!"

I sighed, "What do you mean?"

He sighed, "Skillout… they're Level 0s who try to vitimize themselves and act like they're oppressed by Espers. Most of them hate espers, just because of their abilities, and they go around causing senseless violence. Level 0s aren't oppressed and they're not looked down upon by most people... They live normal lives in this city. The existence of Skillout is completely foolish."

I frowned, "But still, he didn't seem like a bad person…"

Arakuyo-san sighed, "I don't trust him, and I'm not going to ask him for help on my research."

I sighed, "Alright, alright…"

I looked out the window, watching the morning sky.

"Then, what's the plan?"

* * *

_Kirisame Renko's Side_

It was already afternoon by the time we checked all the areas Miki normally visits.

"Eh, she wasn't anywhere!" I sighed, collapsing back on the bench, "What's gotten into her?"

Yui frowned, "She was so excited that she got her powers back, but I doubt she'd run away because of that…"

Yui was right… especially after what she said last night.

Mei-san collapsed, frowning, "B-but… Miki-chan… What if something bad happened to her!?"

I frowned, "Let's not jump to conclusions! I'm sure she's fine… hey, if we split up, we can cover more ground, right?"

Yui nodded, "Good idea. Mei-san, you can come with me."

Mei-san stood up and nodded. I smiled and turned around, "Let's meet back up here at sunset, unless one of us finds Miki-chan!"

We all nodded and ran in separate directions. Once I was out of sight, I pulled out my grimoire.

"Right! Let's do this!"

My grimoire had a page on it that acted as a storage space. It's where I kept most of my witch gear. I hovered my hand over the ruin and pulled out a broom. I could search for Miki-chan like this, then land, store my broom, and approach her normally.

I shot up into the sky and began scanning the streets and alleyways for my friend. I had pretty good vision, so even though Miki might not have stood out in a crowd, I had confidence I'd still be able to find her.

Then, I saw it.

A path of destruction through the alleyways. Thugs and goons lying unconscious on the ground, cracked concrete and broken walls.

"What the hell… is this?"

Against my better judgement, I decided to land, but what I saw when I landed was not what I expected.

Standing in the center of the destruction wasn't some powerful esper or heavily-armed thug, instead, it was…

"M-MIKI-CHAN!?"

* * *

**AN: Not much to say about this really, just the start of a new arc and a couple of shocking revelations.**

**By the way, sorry for not updating yesterday, and sorry for the relatively short chapter today. Aside from being busy with some other things, I've begun a project related to this fanfiction that I think you guys are going to like. For those of you curious to how long this is going to last, believe me, I plan on making it a lot longer than this, so don't worry.**

**As always, I hoped you enjoyed this chapter! Reviews are always appreciated!**


	10. Chapter 10

_?'s Side_

"What the… What the hell is this!?"

I gazed at the monitors in the dark room. What I was reading…

"This… this isn't possible!" I stood up in my chair, "Why did Testament… no… how did it…"

I sighed, running my hand through my hair. If only I had noticed earlier.

"What's wrong?" Another researcher looked over, "Find something interesting?"

"Yeah, I was reviewing the brainwave patterns of #9964, during the time leading up to and during the experiment… this doesn't seem right…" I noted, "It's like… she has emotions… but that shouldn't be possible, right? So I checked the conversation logs on the MISAKA Network using the unfinished Administrator… It''s all one-sided, I don't know who she was talking to, but she mentioned dulled emotional response… Testament… fed her false information? But why does she have emotions in the first place… somatic cell clones shouldn't be able to develop that, right? Testament couldn't have malfunctioned, right?"

The other researcher frowned, "Maybe it was an inside job. Something to get the clones to say "I'm scared, I don't want to fight," or something bullshit like that. Either way, we should have 9969 through 9982 recover her and-"

"They already tried," I replied, "Look, it's on the 9982's report… 'while 9964's vital signals have disappeared, and 9964 has become disconnected from the MISAKA Network, her body was not found at the site of the experiment.'" I pointed out, "We couldn't find anything out if we tried."

"Tch… if her body was never found… did Accelerator fail? He requested a day break from the experiments… but he couldn't have lost to a clone, right?" the other researcher asked.

"Damn, this is too sloppy… losing a clone!? What if someone found it!? I'll check the nearby morgue records of areas 7 - 18… and the hospital records from areas-"

"It's useless."

I turned around, "A-ah, Di-director!"

"It's completely useless to check records… especially if that man found her…" the Director frowned, "Heaven Canceller, he's called. He's a meddlesome man. Always going on about his patients… always acting like a saint…"

The director bit down on the pencap she was chewing and it shattered. She frowned and spit out the pieces before reaching into her pocket and pulling out another.

"I'll send someone to clean up this mess…" she frowned, "Regardless, I've already run the calculations and data from the MISAKA network through the Tree Diagram. The report is as follows, 'Even assuming experiment #9964 ended in failure, at that time, Accelerator came into contact with another powerful Level 5 Esper. Their ensuing fight was enough to supplement the experiment. As long as the other 10036 clones are disposed off successfully, the Level 6 Shift is still possible.'"

"So, it doesn't matter if 9964 is still alive?" I asked.

She lowered her head and glared at me.

"Fool!" she snapped, "Assuming she's still _functional_...Recovery of 9964, for experimental purposes, is our main priority. Furthermore, I'd like to hide our slip-up from the other labs working on this project… Once we've done substantial research on this emotion phenomenon, 9964 will be disposed of properly."

I sighed. The director deliberately went out of her way from saying _alive._ I wasn't sure if she was being cruel, or if that's how she coped with these experiments. By telling herself they weren't alive.

I sighed, turning back to work.

Getting involved in matters like that was useless. I was a part of a different experiment regarding the Radio Noise project. The only clone I'd ever need to interact with was Last Order, once the code was finished and a new clone prepared.

I bowed my head, "My apologies, director."

She frowned and turned to leave, not even bothering to look back, "Get back to work!"

* * *

_Arakuyo Kenji's Side_

"I was thinking," I started, "I wanted to analyze this 'Level Upper' thing before I did anything else, but according to this website, it can cause its users to become unusually violent. It's starting to become a problem."

Miyako smiled, "Geez, I had no idea you were into such rumors and urban myths!"

I sighed, "Just by looking at it, it seems like a website full of bullshit ubran myths, right? Well, in actuality this website is run by a famous anonymous informant, known only as Ao Usagi. They've got an information network throughout the entire city. Information from this site is always accurate."

"Accurate?" she looked over my shoulder, "What about this 'Stripping Lady' myth, that can't be true, can it?"

"You're the last person I want to hear that from!" I yelled, "Shameless woman!"

She sighed, "You know, Vampires are known to bite people who use ridiculous catch phrases!"

"I think you're lying… besides… if you wanted to bite me, you wouldn't have to use a stupid excuse like that!" I replied.

She blushed, "E-eh, what do you mean!?"

"You're my friend, aren't you? If you needed blood, I'd give you some," I noted, "You've already bitten me before. I'm not exactly scared of it."

"Hahaha!" she laughed, "You seem to be underestimating me! Next time, I'll drink enough of your blood to turn you into a vampire!"

"Ha, you already told me that was a myth, remember?" I reminded her, smiling smuggly.

"I was lying," she smiled, "I just didn't want you to freak out!"

I froze.

"W-what?" I asked.

"If a vampire drinks enough blood to kill a human, instead of dying, that human turns into a vampire his or herself," she stated a bit too factually "Though, it's thought to be spell-based, so I may not be able to do it anyway."

"Wait, 'may'? As in, you aren't sure!?" I asked.

"I haven't ever tried. Doing so would mean killing someone if it didn't work!" I pointed out, "Despite my age, I still value human life!"

"You're age," I froze. Of course! How could I not realize it sooner! Vampires were immortal. Miyako-san could be any age! "How old are you, exactly?"

"17!" She announced happily after a short pause.

"You had to think about it! And it completely contradicts what you just said!" I pointed out.

"Come on, Arakuyo-san!" She pouted, "You can't just think about these things in terms of humans! Age to vampires is entirely different!"

I sighed, "Right, right… Now, listen… Level Upper's becoming a problem, right? The way I see it, we can analyze this tomorrow or a week later, but someone's got to have distributed it all, right? If we can stop it at it's source, we may be able to find out more about it, and even if that doesn't work, we won't have to worry about ex-Skillout members acting as petty thugs."

"So, your plan is… what, exactly?" Miyako-san asked.

"Well, we just have to work our way up. The fastest way to do that is an aggressive investigation!" I grinned, punching the palm of my hand with my fist. Now, normally, I wouldn't go out of my way to start fights, but I was passionate about this for two reasons.

One, I wanted to learn more about this Level Upper, and it's potential connection to the "clarity", and two, these were the same guys harassing Miyako yesterday.

"In other words, you're going to beat up some thugs and work your way up to the dealer?" the green-haired vampire asked me.

"Pretty much."

* * *

_Kirisame Renko's Side_

"Ha...hahahaha!" Miki-chan smiled. She wasn't wearing her glasses, and she had bags under her eyes, like she hadn't slept at all the night before. Her face was twisted into a manic grin, and I felt shivers just looking at her.

This was Miki-chan… timid, shy, kind Miki-chan…

"This power… is wonderful!" She smiled, "Level Upper really works! I got my power back!"

I sighed and looked down. Yui was right to be concerned.

"So… that's it then? You got your powers back from Level Upper… but why are you acting like this?" I asked.

"I want to beat him! I want to fight him! Number 1, the Strongest in Academy City! I will surpass him!" she yelled.

I ran up to her and slapped her across the face. I didn't want to see her like this at all. I looked down sadly, speaking slowly and deliberately, "Miki-chan… how can you beat the Strongest like this? You can't even reflect a single slap…"

She slowly raised her hand to her cheek. This was it, I'd broken through to her!

"You… YOU BITCH!" she screamed, glaring at me with insane eyes.

Or not.

The concrete around me broke up and I was tossed violently backwards. I had magical powers, and I was used to fights, but Miki was unaware of both of these facts. In her eyes, I was a Level 0 who had to fake powers every System Scan with a few parlor tricks and a light show.

And yet, she didn't hesitate.

I sighed, "I didn't want to show you like this… but it can't be helped…"

I pulled out my grimoire, "Sorry, Miki, but REFLECT THIS!"

I flipped to the bookmarked page. My favorite spell ever. Fighting was all about power, and this spell was the very pinnacle of power. Magicannon.

The wide, colorful laser swept the alleyway in one quick go. I frowned. I'd never thought of using it on Miki-chan, but I didn't fire it at full capacity. It wouldn't be enough to kill her, and once I knocked her out…

But once the laser faded and the dust cleared. I saw the figure of Miki-chan still standing there, grinning that twisted grin of hers.

"Oho? That doesn't look like an Esper ability. I wonder what the hell that was!" She smiled.

I didn't actually think that magic could be redirected with vector change, but when I looked closer, I noticed that it hadn't entirely.

She was putting on a strong face, but there were signs that Miki-chan had been hit after all. It seems like she was able to redirect the attack partially, but given the nature of magic, couldn't reflect it properly.

"Heh, you're acting tough, but I'd like to see you take two of those!" I smiled.

However, before I could fire another Magicannon, she stomped the ground, and I was flung backwards.

I landed roughly and coughed as the air was knocked out of my lungs. I quickly flipped the pages of my grimoire until I found it.

"Take this!" I rolled over and fired a barrage of star-shaped projectiles at her. Once again, she wasn't able to completely reflect the magic.

"That's pesky," she frowned, "What kind of attack is that?"

I smiled, "Magic, though I have a feeling you won't listen to me at this point!"

I fired more stars at her, but she dodged and came charging towards me, propelling herself forwards with her abilities.

That's fine. Magicannon is stronger at point-blank anyway. The closer she gets…

I flipped to the bookmarked page and aimed it just before she landed a hit on me. She stared at me wide-eyed as the attack fired quickly at her. Because I didn't charge it up first, it was only half as powerful as the Magicannon I fired before, but since she was so close, it probably didn't make much of a difference.

She looked up at me as she collapsed, with sad, apologetic eyes. I sighed as I picked her back up and carried her to a bench nearby before pulling out my cell phone.

"Time to call the others…" I spoke to myself.

* * *

_Miyako Mizuki's Side_

There we were, back in the alleyways, literally looking for fights. I sighed. Arakuyo-san was definitely acting differently. He didn't seem like the kind of person who'd go out of his way to investigate an issue unless it happened to pertain to him in some way. He seemed more like the kind of person who got involved if it was personal.

Then again, maybe it was. He had been gone for a few days, but he hadn't bothered telling me what he got himself into during that time. I sighed. I guess I was still being selfish to expect him to tell me everything like we were good friends.

One would assume that a long lived vampire would go out of their way to act distant to humans, and honestly I was afraid I'd eventually become like that. Eventually, no matter how many friends I made, I'd watch them grow old and die as I stayed the same age.

I wasn't turned into a vampire by being bitten… I was born a vampire. As such, my mother, who raised me, always wanted me to live a happy life, thus she naturally encouraged me to stay away from humans. I left home to find more vampires I could become friends with.

But vampires were incredibly difficult to find, even if you're one of them. I managed to only find humans. Most of the humans I ran into were of the kind to try to hunt vampires or capture them or use them for magic. I eventually turned to Academy City because it was relatively untouched by magic.

But even then, I was pursued. In fact, Arakuyo-san was the first human I met who took the idea that I was a vampire in relative stride. He neither dismissed the idea as impossible (though, naturally he was skeptical at first), nor did he try to hunt me because of it.

In many ways, Arakuyo-san was my first friend, at least in my eyes.

But maybe that was one-sided. Maybe he only saw me as a manipulative freeloader who forced her way into his life, and he was only putting up with out of necessity.

And here I was, acting like I knew him and his motivations.

I shook my head. Now wasn't the time to think about that. I might not have had magic, but I wasn't weak.

I grabbed the collar of the nearest guy's shirt and punched him in the face. It was a knock out in one hit.

"So," I asked, sweep-kicking some other guys to the ground, "Are we just going to beat up everyone in these alleyways?"

"No," Arakuyo-san answered, "But these guys aren't who we're looking for. None of them have used Esper abilities. They obviously haven't used Level Upper."

"Y-You're lookin' for Level Upper!?" one of the guys asked. He hadn't yet been hit hey, so chances are he was trying to save his own hide, "In this area, the goons from White Dragon are the ones dealin' that stuff!"

"White Dragon?" Arakuyo-san asked, "Why does that sound familiar… Ah! That Ryuu guy said he was from Dark Dragon… are they opposing gangs?"

The guy shook his head, "N-no, Dark Dragon and White Dragon both used to be a larger gang called Red Dragon… Ryuu used to be the leader, but he had a strict no-drug policy. When Level Upper popped up, he also extended his no-drug rule to encompass it, even if it's not exactly a drug, per se."

"Ah, so some of the members disagreed with him, and the gang split," I concluded.

"Worse than that," the man replied, "I heard the majority of the gang revolted. It's under new leadership, and they changed their name to White Dragon. Ryuu's got maybe five to six people on his side, from what I heard… that's Dark Dragon."

"So," Arakuyo-san frowned, "White Dragon's responsible, then? Can you take me to their hideout?"

"E-eh!" the guy's eyes widened as he freaked out, "No no no no! No way man! If I'm caught anywhere near there, they'd hunt me down for sure!"

I smiled, "So you know where it is, then?"

He nodded, "Y-ye-eah, but I'm still not going!"

I bent forwards. I was wearing a loose-fitting tank top, so doing so gave him a glimpse of my bra and cleavage. I leaned forwards and whispered into his ear, "Please show us, won't you?"

"A-ah, s-sure, but I'll only lead you so far, then give you the directions from there, got it!?"

I smiled, "Thanks."

I looked up at Arakuyo-san and winked at him, but he was glaring at me with a look of irritation.

"That was unnecessary," he pointed out.

"I got you the information you wanted, right?" I shot back smugly.

He turned around, "Let's just go, alright!"

But even as he said that, I caught a glimpse of something in his voice.

Was that… jealousy?

* * *

_Kirisame Renko's Side_

"Is she going to be okay?" Mei-san asked, worried.

Yui smiled, "she's fine. It seems she just needs some rest. Let's take her back to your dorm, alright?"

I sighed, "Be careful, Mei-san, she wasn't acting in her right mind when I found her. She even tried to attack me. I don't think she'll try that again, but be careful."

Mei-san nodded, "To think the kind Miki-chan would do such a thing… Maybe she just isn't feeling well?"

I shrugged, "At any rate, let's get back, it's getting a bit late."

We all nodded and headed back quickly, watching as the setting sun bathed the city in golden light.

"By the way, Yui," I began, low enough that only Yui heard me, "She definitely said something about using Level Upper…"

Yui gasped, "Really! I thought it was suspicious, but this whole time I was hoping it was a coincidence… but if she really used Level Upper…"

I frowned, "I don't know what Level Upper is… but if it has anything to do with her sporadic behavior, it would be best to try to find it and confiscate it before she uses it again."

Yui nodded, then turned to Mei-san.

"Say, Mei-san… if you'd like to… we could come over and help you take care of Miki-san," Yui offered.

"Really?" Mei-san nodded, "That would be a lot of help… thanks!"

We kept switching Miki-chan over when one of us got tired, and eventually, we made it back to the dorms. We received a few strange looks from students, but the dorm supervisor wasn't anywhere in sight, so we made it back to the dorm without problems.

"Ah, lay Miki-chan over there," Mei-san pointed to couch positioned along one of the walls of the dorm, "It'll be easier to look after her if she's not in the bedroom.

I was currently carrying Miki-chan, so I laid her down on the couch and looked at her sadly. I wondered how I'd feel if I suddenly lost my grimoire.

Oh yeah, maybe I should explain my magic a bit. I'm not a conventional mage. As a Witch, instead of casting by reciting spells or drawing runes, I can "quick-cast" from a selection of spells in my grimoire. Doing so requires my own magical energy, but some of the pages on my grimoire also act as mana storage, like a magical battery, allowing me to fight even if I exhaust my own supply.

I sighed, clutching my grimoire. One day I'll tell Yui and everyone else about it, but for now, I'll ask Miki to keep it to herself once she wakes up.

I got up and smiled, "Alright, I'll be using the bathroom then!"

I gave Yui a quick glance and she immediately knew what I was up to. She distracted Mei-chan long enough for me to close the bathroom door as I passed it, then quickly enter the bedroom.

I wasn't sure what I was looking for, but if Level Upper was a drug, than pills or anything similar might be a culprit.

I rummaged around Miki-chan's side of the room, looking around for anything that could be Level Upper, but to no avail. I sighed and fell to my knees in defeat.

"It's useless searching like this if I don't know what I'm looking for…" I complained quietly. Just then, however, something caught my eye. It was a small, grey music player, one I had never seen Miki-chan use before.

It couldn't be…

But even as I thought that, I picked it up and read the title of the song she had last listened to.

_Level Upper_

_Artist Unknown._

* * *

_Arakuyo Kenji's Side_

"Th-this is as far as I'll take you!" the goon guiding us here replied, "If you keep heading straight, then make the first left, you'll be able to see it. There's a door with red graffiti all over it. That's what you're looking for."

"Thank you," Miyako-san smiled.

I frowned. I wasn't jealous, but using her body like that…

"Shameless woman," I muttered at the man walked away. Miyako-san looked over at me and rolled her eyes.

"You wanted my help," she pointed out.

"I just want to put an end to this," I replied, not bothering to argue with her.

Maybe I could find something out about Level Upper this way, and if not, well, at least it won't be distributed anymore.

I continued walking, but then I looked back at Miyako-san.

"They're an ex-Skillout gang, so they're going to be dangerous. Are you sure you want to come along?"

I nodded, "I'm a vampire. Even if I get shot or something, I won't die. If anything, I should be asking you if you want to come along."

I frowned, "Says the person who lost two two magicians."

She frowned, "Mages are on a completely different level! Besides, you lost to O'Reilly too!"

We took a left where we were told and turned into the alleyway that lead to their hideout. My idea wasn't as stupid and reckless as just charging in there without a strategy, but the fact that I was in enemy territory meant I was still at the disadvantage.

"Miyako-san, my plan is-"

However, when I looked behind me, I not only saw Miyako-san, but also three more cloaked figures, standing in front of Ryuu of the Dark Dragons, who I met yesterday. They quickly surrounded us, and I felt a sharp strike to the back of my neck just before I passed out.

* * *

**AN: Sorry for the slower updates lately. I've kind of been hit with a form of writer's block I like to call "brainstorming discontinuity". In short, it means that lately, my brain's been able to give me some pretty awesome ideas... for an entirely different part of the story than this one. **

**So, instead of rushing through and writing crap chapters, I slowed down, and I've finally managed to get some good ideas. **

**Also, I've been kind of busy working on what I'm now calling Project Kyuketsuki, which I'll tell you guys about later once I get far enough into it that I have something to show you.**

**Anyway, hope you enjoyed the chapter. As always, reviews are appreciated!**


	11. An Apology and an Annoucement

**Hello to anyone who's read this fanfiction this far, I have an apology to make.**

**When I started this fanfiction, I was updating it once a day, and because of this, the quality of my writing suffered. I put little thought into the pacing of the story, and ultimately, despite the title being To Aru Majutsu no ****_Kyuketsuki_****, the focus on the actual vampiric traits of Mizuki have been limited.**

**Not so apparent was my self-imposed restriction of not allowing myself to switch scenes without switching characters, which often lead to bits of irrelevant blurbs stuck in the middle of the main focus of the story. I put little-to-no thought in these sections, since essentially they acted as just filler.**

**All in all, I sacrificed quality for quantity, and honestly I feel like I've cheated not only you guys, but also the well though-out characters and situations by putting so little effort into something I wanted to take more seriously.**

**Because of this, I am going to revamp this entire fanfiction. I'm going to restructure the story arcs appropriately, and I'm going to do a much more professional job with it. In fact, I'm going to add artwork to it, much like the light novels, and I will make the story available not only here, but also on DeviantART with illustrations. This is going to take time, so for now, consider this fanfiction retired. However, I will leave this up for reference, as well as for anyone interested in the new story. I will post another Announcement "Chapter" once the first Volume is available.**

**Thanks to those who have read up to this point. I am doing my best to get a more professional version of the story out quickly, while also taking my time. I hope you will continue to follow my efforts as this ****_"Project Kyuketsuki" _****takes this step from a simple fanfiction to a high-quality light fanfiction novel.**


	12. REWRITE NOW AVAILABLE!

**Hey guys! I would like to announce that the rewrite of To Aru Majutsu No Kyuketsuki is now available!**

**You can read it here, under the name ****_-Project K- To Aru Majutsu No Kyuketsuki_****, and eventually it will also be available on my DeviantART, WitchHatStudios, with illustrations.**

**Thanks to all of you who have read this far, and have been waiting for the rewrite!**


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